NASA confirmed that a hacker managed to steal 500 megabytes of data from the JPL (Jet Propulsion Laboratory) last year by using a Raspberry Pi Computer, the data that was stolen was mission data.
The raspberry pi only costs around $36 USD, and it’s only as big as a credit card.
The small computer is usually used in small projects like gaming stations, smart mirrors, or other smart stations inside a house. This is why it is considered as a versatile computing platform while considering that its only worth around $30-40 USD.
But one hacker found another use for Raspberry Pi.
An audit report by NASA showed that a hacker managed to steal mission data from one of its major mission systems by just using a Raspberry Pi.
The Jet Propulsion Laboratory discovered that an account in the audit report did not belong to them.
The account that was discovered by the JPL belonged to a hacker that used a Raspberry Pi to gain access to the network of the Laboratory.
Somehow, the hacker managed to take advantage of not getting caught for 10 months. The report by NASA said that the hacker stole 23 files throughout the span.
Two of the files that were stolen by the hacker had information about the “International Traffic In Arms Regulations”, the two files had sensitive information about the transfer of military and space-related technology that is being used in the Mars Science Laboratory Mission.
The analysis also showed that users managed to enter the network system of JPL even if they were not approved to get in the network and the administrators of the system did not even track the devices that were newly added in the network.
The hacker used all these shortcomings and stayed under the light for 10 months.
The breach also caught the attention of the Johnson Space Center, the center is responsible for the International Space Station, the center decided to disconnect from the network gateway of JPL.
Officials of the Johnson Space Center are concerned about how the hacker managed to hack such confidential information from the network.
Officials are also concerned about how the hacker can move in their mission systems.