NASA is apparently seriously lacking when it comes to data security

Date:
Tue, 15 Mar 2022 16:05:08 +0000

Description:
NASA is good at protecting classified data, but is all the necessary data labeled as such?

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The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is pretty good at keeping Classified information away from falling into the wrong hands, but
its not that good at labeling all of the right data as Classified.

This becomes a major problem because it puts many projects and information in jeopardy from insider attacks, says the latest report on the organization's state of cybersecurity, published by the NASA Office of Inspector General.

The NASAs insider threat program report reveals that the vast majority of
NASA technology is not labeled as Classified, including "high-value assets
and critical infrastructure." Some of these assets include "sensitive and valuable information such as scientific, engineering, or research data; human resources files; or procurement sensitive information." TechRadar needs you!

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As these items are not labeled as Classified, they arent covered by the various defenses the organization deployed for its insider protection
program.

Things wouldnt be that bad if unclassified, but sensitive information, wasnt abused every day. The auditor says in its report that the number of
incidents, including the improper use of the organizations IT systems, rose 343% in three years (from 249 in 2017, to 1,103 in 2020).

Of all these incidents, the most common problem was failing to protect Sensitive but Unclassified (SBU) information. Apparently, many NASA employees were sending each other unencrypted emails containing SBU data, Personally Identifiable Information (PII), or International Traffic in Arms Regulations data. Read more

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Another potential problem is frequent privilege elevation for the employees. In the last three years, NASA users made more than 12,000 requests for privilege elevation.

To better protect its data, the watchdog hints, NASA needs to reorganize informational security responsibilities. As things stand now, multiple teams are in charge of securing the organization's endpoints , including the Office of Protective Services (OPS), and the Office of the Chief Information Officer (OCIO). Check out our list of the best firewalls right now

Via: The Register



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Link to news story: https://www.techradar.com/news/nasa-is-seriously-lacking-when-it-comes-to-secu rity/


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