NASA Admits Stolen Laptop Contained Control Codes for ISS

[JMcEntegart]

Laptop was unencrypted and among 48 stolen in the last two years.

NASA Admits Stolen Laptop Contained Control Codes for ISS : Read more

 

[mcvf]

I just LoLed after reading this article. Sounds more like about schoolboy laptop than NASA computer.

 

[JOSHSKORN]

I read somewhere (Associated Press, I think) that NASA had been hacked thousands of times in recent years.

 

[Guest]

Now world goes Boom

 

[A Bad Day]

"and resulted in the loss of the algorithms used to command and control the ISS."

Not backing up critical data. That ended quite well.

 

[adobejesus]

The IT Dept in the college where I worked had a mandatory policy that any systems that could handle Win7 used BitLocker and systems that could not used TruCrypt but yet NASA doesn't have a encryption policy? Lol.
The Coca-Cola recipe is safe guarded to extremes and there are only 2 people in the world that know the entire recipe. When they are mobile they keep it locked in a bullet-proof, bomb-resistant metal briefcase that is locked to their arms and they fly private jets with military style security... they even fly seperate planes in case one goes down and yet NASA does not keep back up copies of some of the most important information and also has extremely low security standards? This is pathetic. Epic Fail NASA!

 

[razor512]

government organizations are generally slow to adopt good security practices such as encrypting hard drives.

As for the hacking, just make nasa open to the public, that way there will be no need to hack it to get any information. (if you pay taxes then you are paying nasa, you should have access to all of the info)

 

[olaf]

what can i say people like to hack there way to the little green aliens

 

[memadmax]

"Potatoes have more security"

 

[ap3x]

Yea, this is a shame. They should at least have whole disk encryption on all mobile devices.

 

[blazorthon]

Well guys, this is NASA, a government, military group. Yes, NASA is not civilian for anyone who didn't know. What do we expect from groups that are tied to the government and/or many companies, etc? They all seem to not care about hackers. If they cared then they would actually do something about it.

That makes me wonder if any of these groups even have anything they care about enough to protect. Maybe they are just scape goats for stuff that the governments and military want to keep protected.1% mobile devices being encrypted? Lets see if those have anything relevant.

 

[acadia11]

And you wonder why the drone didn't have a self destruct button. My companies systems are more secure.

 

[freggo]

I am pretty sure NASA has procedures in place to deal with the -statistically- likely event of a missing laptop etc. and are smart enough to play dumb and not tell what they are doing about it behind the scenes.
I'd not be surprised if, after hacking into the wrong system, someone may 'disappear' without trace; and quite frankly... I could not care less. Hackers are nothing but high tech criminals with a 'cute' name.
OK, now y'all can hit me all with a thumbs down 🙂

 

[DXRick]

Meanwhile, in some quiet US town, a 12 year fires up the laptop and sees "Press Enter to Start Thermonuclear Global War".

 

[blazorthon]

[citation][nom]freggo[/nom]I am pretty sure NASA has procedures in place to deal with the -statistically- likely event of a missing laptop etc. and are smart enough to play dumb and not tell what they are doing about it behind the scenes.I'd not be surprised if, after hacking into the wrong system, someone may 'disappear' without trace; and quite frankly... I could not care less. Hackers are nothing but high tech criminals with a 'cute' name.OK, now y'all can hit me all with a thumbs down 🙂[/citation]

I suppose that is another possible reason for the apparent ease with which people can hack some things like NASA. Instead of NASA being a scapegoat for more important stuff, NASA and such could be a trap for the hackers. Also, $7M in damage? Is there any way we can get some more detailed info, such as what sort of costs they were? How much money was lost from stolen hardware, how much was lost from from workers needing to do more work on the systems that are hacked, etc.

 

[Guest]

Nothing to worry about... some jerk surely wiped it and uses it for facebook and twitter... and picking up obese chicks on the internet.

I'm a US Army Veteran, and I usually get a letter twice a year letting me know that a laptop was stolen that had all of my medical history, SSN, etc on it. Lucky for me, my credit score is so low the info's useless.

 

[stevo777]

DOH!

""NASA has made significant progress to better protect the agency's IT systems and is in the process of implementing the recommendations made by the NASA Inspector General in this area," NASA public affairs officer Trent Perrotto is quoted as telling SecurityNewsDaily."--nice try

Your tax dollars at work.

 

[Guest]

You know, if government paid competitively with private enterprise, then they could attract decent talent, and not the bottom-of-the-barrel employees that allowed all of this to happen.

In the end, it would eventually save taxpayer money, as smarter employees will impart efficiency, innovation and correctness on everything they touch, which save money on costly screw-ups, and eventually allow for less labor as more efficient processes are put into production.

Google, Facebook, large banks, etc... will pay someone $100-$200k a year or more to get top talent for their world-class IT operations... As long as goverment IT pays so low, they'll continue to attract the rejects nobody else wanted.

 

[Kami3k]

[citation][nom]IT jeenyuss[/nom]You know, if government paid competitively with private enterprise, then they could attract decent talent, and not the bottom-of-the-barrel employees that allowed all of this to happen.In the end, it would eventually save taxpayer money, as smarter employees will impart efficiency, innovation and correctness on everything they touch, which save money on costly screw-ups, and eventually allow for less labor as more efficient processes are put into production.Google, Facebook, large banks, etc... will pay someone $100-$200k a year or more to get top talent for their world-class IT operations... As long as goverment IT pays so low, they'll continue to attract the rejects nobody else wanted.[/citation]

Could of sworn it was private companies that had the leak of the F-22 info.

Yea, so much for private enterprise being superior with security....

This is the case of let's not bother with it and "waste" money making sure were more secure.

Does Sony ring a bell?

 

[JeTJL]

So apple lost 2 iphone prototypes, and Nasa lost 48 laptops within the previous years. Nasa is failing hard 😛