When you think of NASA, you think of the cutting edge of science and space exploration. These are the people who were responsible for the moon landing, the Mars missions, and countless technological innovations that have defined the world as we know it today.
What you might not think of is inadequate and out-of-date security, but here we are.
In June of 2019, NASA confirmed that its Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) was hacked back in April 2018. What’s worse is that this hack remained undetected for almost one year. It doesn’t exactly fill you with confidence about our nation’s space agency, does it?
While the final extent of the damage is not (and may never be) known, NASA has confirmed that malicious actors stole approximately 500 MB of data related to the Mars missions. If you follow the news, these missions involve sending unmanned drones (such as the Curiosity rover) to the red planet to gather information. If things go well, the plan is to send a crewed mission at some point in the 2020s.
So, how was this high-tech cyber heist accomplished? Through espionage worthy of a Mission: Impossible movie? Nope. What if we told you that it was all because of an unauthorized Raspberry Pi?
Comments