NASA “reported a loss or theft” of 48 computers between April 2009 and April 2011 including a laptop that was stolen in March 2011 containing “algorithms used to command and control the International Space Station.”
That laptop, like 99 percent of NASA’s portable computing devices, wasn’t encrypted.
But the case of the stolen laptop containing Space Station control codes is hardly the only cyber security issue plaguing NASA. In fact, the agency appears to be rife with security flaws.
“Other lost or stolen notebooks contained Social Security numbers and sensitive data on NASA’s Constellation and Orion programs. Moreover, NASA cannot consistently measure the amount of sensitive data exposed when employee notebooks are lost or stolen because the Agency relies on employees to self-report regarding the lost data rather than determining what was stored on the devices by reviewing backup files.”
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