The NASA data breach is a worrying one. An agency as prolific as NASA has been hit by a cyberattack. It makes us wonder – as we often do – is anyone really safe?
Our Data Leak Lawyers are involved in over 20 different data breach actions. These range from the Equifax data breach of 2017, to the British Airways data breach of this year. These are huge hacks that affected large organisations. Each time a new one comes along, we’re a mix of surprised and unsurprised that it has happened. On the one hand, these breaches are happening all the time, but on the other, the big-name breaches are worrying.
Surely there should never be such a thing as a NASA data breach. Yet it has happened…
What happened in the NASA data breach?
The NASA data breach involved two NASA servers reportedly being compromised. The servers contained personally identifiable information about a large number of NASA employees.
Although details as to what information has been breached hasn’t been made clear, we do know that it includes identifiable information and Social Security Numbers.
Remarkably, employees were told about the NASA data breach some two months after the event.
What’s being said about the NASA data breach?
Understandably, a lot has been said so far about the NASA data breach so far.
From the perspective of Data Leak lawyers like us, it’s worrying. To think that a world-leading space agency can be subject to a cyberattack is a huge concern. You’d think these kinds of government agencies would be almost impenetrable.
Although NASA has confirmed that the data breach hasn’t impacted any missions, it’s still concerning that it has happened.
A memo to staff reportedly said:
“Those NASA Civil Service employees who were on-boarded, separated from the agency, and/or transferred between Centers, from July 2006 to October 2018, may have been affected.”
A spokesperson elaborating on the data breach said:
“NASA and its Federal cybersecurity partners are continuing to examine the servers to determine the scope of the potential data exfiltration and identify potentially affected individuals.”