In the post-SpaceX human rocket launch scenario, the question Is NASA under attack? has been raised by a blog post originating from the deep web.
The post is rather critical in nature since the hacker group DopplePaymer is a ransomware attack group that mocked the National Agency for Space Sciences over the launch of the human space rockets along with the breach announcement. As many as 2853 servers were reportedly decrypted during the hack attack.
NASA under attack: What we know?
ZDNet reported that an IT contractor of NASA in the USA was reportedly targeted by a DopplePaymer ransomware attack recently. On 30th May, SpaceX and NASA were celebrating their first human-operated rocket launch; that is when the cybercriminals behind DopplePaymer, ransomware, launched an attack against one of the IT contractors of NASA.
Per the hacker gang, they successfully managed to breach Digital Management Inc. (DMI) in Maryland. The company provides services related to IT and cyber-security to numerous Fortune 100 firms and government agencies.
The DopplePaymer hackers via a portal operated by them have up till now released around 20 archive files that belong to NASA, including the HR documents and project plans. Some of the details of employees matched with the pubic LinkedIn records.
The report further claims that DopplePaymer has managed to successfully encrypt around 2,853 servers and workstation this ransomware attack. However, this still cannot be corroborated that the whole affected infrastructure is related to NASA or not.
NASA under attack: What it means?
If there is something for certain, DMI Is clearly failing at its job as the third-party risk management program. It seems NASA needs to do the needful in order to harmonize the risk assessment and threat intelligence, in order to prevent breaches that are caused by the IT contractors, ransomware, dark web, etc.
As a matter of fact, in case NASA fails to incorporate more intelligent solutions as an integral security component instead of third party operators, the weaknesses in the third party system can cost more data breaches. Although ransomware attacks are getting more common if NASA fails to improve more severe breaches can happen to give us more NASA under attack headlines.
Although there is no official statement from NASA, Crypotpolitan.com would be getting in touch with the officials for comment on the story. Stay tuned for more updates.
