NASA data compromised by rash of security breaches, thefts of laptops and mobile devices, hacking, lack of encryption, hopes to have encryption by Dec. 21, 2012

11/14/12, “NASA Suffers “Large” Data Breach Affecting Employees, Contractors, and Others,“ spectrum.ieee.org, R. Charette

“Yesterday, NASA sent a message to all NASA employees informing them of a data breach involving an agency stolen laptop.

According to the NASA message posted at SpaceRef.com, “On October 31, 2012, a NASA laptop and official NASA documents issued to a Headquarters employee were stolen from the employee’s locked vehicle. The laptop contained records of sensitive personally identifiable information (PII) for a large number of NASA employees, contractors, and others. Although the laptop was password protected, it did not have whole disk encryption software, which means 

the information on the laptop could be accessible to unauthorized individuals.  

We are thoroughly assessing and investigating the incident, and taking every possible action to mitigate the risk of harm or inconvenience to affected employees.”

The message goes on to state that NASA will be sending letters to affected individuals, 

once the agency figures out who they are, 

which may take up to 60 days. Those individuals receiving letters will be offered a free credit and ID monitoring service….

NASA plans to have all of its laptops running whole disk encryption software by 21 December 2012….

Why it has taken so long for NASA to finally decide to fully encrypt its laptops remains a mystery, given its long-time poor record on IT security. As noted at NASA Watch, NASA has a 

history of laptops with personally identifiable information being stolen, 

one as recently as March.

Maybe NASA decided to act this time because it involved a NASA Headquarters’ person who in all likelihood is very senior and  

should have known better than to possess a laptop with no data encryption.” (NASA administrator Charles Bolden pictured)

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An unencrypted NASA laptop was recently stolen from a locked car in a NASA parking lot as described in article above. The BBC must think we can't handle the truth as it uses the word "loss" instead of "theft" in its headline and opening paragraph. Obama appointee Bolden promised in March 2012 to have laptops encrypted but it wasn't done.  48 NASA devices were lost or stolen between 4/2009 and 4/2011.

11/15/12, “NASA to encrypt data after its latest laptop loss,” BBC

“US space agency Nasa has ordered that the data on all its laptops must be encrypted, after losing another one of its portable computers. Until the process is complete, it has forbidden staff from removing Nasa-issued laptops containing sensitive information from its facilities.

The order follows the loss of a device containing “sensitive personally identifiable information”.   
There have been several similar incidents over recent years.

Nasa said the latest incident had occurred on 31 October, when a laptop and documents were stolen from a locked vehicle of one of its employees at Nasa headquarters in Washington DC. The machine was password protected, but the agency acknowledged that the information might still be accessible to hackers since it was not encrypted.
 
Encryption would have scrambled the data, requiring a complicated code to make it understandable again. As a result, Nasa has warned its workers to watch out for bogus messages.

“All employees should be aware of any phone calls, emails, and other communications from individuals claiming to be from Nasa or other official sources that ask for personal information or verification of it,” an agency-wide email published by news site Spaceref stated.

“Because of the amount of information that must be reviewed and validated electronically and manually, it may take up to 60 days for all individuals impacted by this breach to be identified and contacted.”…

The Nasa Watch blog, which comments on affairs at the agency, had previously criticised it for a series of other data losses.

It noted that the organisation had been warned in 2009 that it was not taking enough steps to sufficiently protect information 

and had reported the loss or theft of 48 of its mobile computing devices between April 2009 and April 2011.

This is not the first time Nasa has promised action to address the problem.

In March, Nasa administrator Charles Bolden told the House Appropriations Committee Subcommittee on Commerce that he was going to sign a directive ordering all portable devices to use encryption, after 

acknowledging the 

agency was “woefully deficient” when compared to other government departments.”

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3/2/12, “NASA says it was hacked 13 times last year,” Reuters

“NASA said hackers broke into its computer systems 13 times last year, stealing employee credentials and  

gaining access to mission-critical projects in breaches that 

could compromise U.S. national security.”…

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2/16/10, “NASA plans more outreach to Muslim countries,” Orlando Sentinel, M. Matthews

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Ed. note: NASA today is a danger to all our lives but most people don't know it.




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