Yet Another NASA Computer Security Blunder
Agencywide Message to All NASA Employees: Breach of Personally Identifiable Information (PII)
“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.”
Keith’s note: Look at the links below from the past several years. When things like this happen again and again you have to wonder whether the people entrusted with sensitive information – and/or the people who manage these individuals – are required to exhibit common sense in the performance of their duties. For that matter, you have to wonder if the people running NASA’s IT security actually know what they are doing. This advisory contains “changes and clarifications in NASA policy”. How many times do things like this have to happen before NASA finally figures out how to fix this obvious problem? Why was information like this on a laptop to begin with?
Lets just hope this laptop doesn’t contain any inappropriate emails to U.S. Army soccer moms …
– Stolen KSC Laptop Has Employee Personal Info On It (Update), earlier post
– NASA IT Security is a Mess – Stolen Laptops and Hacking JPL, earlier post
– OIG: NASA Information Security Does Not Fully Meet DHS Requirements, earlier post
– NASA OIG: Facilities and Spacecraft Vulnerable to Attack, earlier post
– OIG Finds Problems in NASA IT Management and Implementation, earlier post
– NASA OIG: Audit of Cybersecurity Oversight of [A NASA] System, earlier post
– GAO Cites Ongoing NASA IT Security Vulnerabilities, earlier post
