back to article Hackers mirror 250GB of NASA files on the web

Hackers have released online 250GB of data they claim they purloined from NASA systems. "So yeah, we know what you're thinking, hacking NASA? How fucking cliche... If only I had a Dogecoin for every time someone claimed that, amiright?" the group wrote in an online posting. "It's like the boy who cried wolf but with hacking …

  1. Andy Non Silver badge
    Facepalm

    Sigh

    So the hackers were smart enough to hack into NASA and take control of a drone but dumb enough to believe in chemtrail conspiracies.

    1. Bill Stewart

      Re: Sigh

      It's really not hard to break into accounts that have login/password as root/root.

      But that just shows how clever the conspiracy is, leaving bait like that lying around! What's NASA REALLY trying to cover up by letting the "hackers" have something to find????

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Sigh

        "It's really not hard to break into accounts that have login/password as root/root."

        Especially if you're running a couple honeypots to pick up the script kiddies. You can even give the honeypots read access to your public data and the kiddies will think they got all your dox.

        At least I hope that's what happened here.

  2. Red Sceptic
    Black Helicopters

    Oh the conspiracies ...

    "One of the main purposes of the Operation was to bring awareness to the reality of Chemtrails/CloudSeeding/Geoengineering/Weather Modification, whatever you want to call it, they all represent the same thing."

    So they also got access to the giant network controlled by the blood-drinking baby-eating lizards (David Icke, we know you're in there!) too, did they?

    "NASA is looking at the effect of cloud seeding in the upper atmosphere, but sadly – for the hackers – there was no smoking gun suggesting the agency is engaged in an active conspiracy."

    Oh what a surprise ... gee, I know the standards of education here in the UK are dire these days, but ffs, how do these people even manage to go to the bathroom (sic), let alone reproduce?

    1. Yet Another Anonymous coward Silver badge

      Re: Oh the conspiracies ...

      Obligatory xkcd link

    2. Peter Simpson 1
      Happy

      Re: Oh the conspiracies ...

      Heavy metals? Last year it was mind control chemicals...

      1. dotdavid

        Re: Oh the conspiracies ...

        "Heavy metals? Last year it was mind control chemicals..."

        Evidently the mind control chemicals worked.

  3. ecofeco Silver badge

    Too clever by half

    So they hack data that... They could have free for asking.

    Impressive.

    1. Grikath

      Re: Too clever by half

      Ah.. Doesn't work that way.. You're talking Conspirationists here....

      Any data, however detailed and verifiable, through Official Channels would be automatically Suspect, because they came through Official Channels, and so must be Tampered with to hide the Evil that's Lurking in the System, so cannot be Trusted....

      Now if we could find a way to extract energy from that kind of circular reasoning.... Hmmm interesting notion.. Would the energy-efficiency of a bank of Conspiracy Nuts be higher or lower than nominal if you feed them the right bias-confirming input in the right amounts in the Matrix? ;)

  4. Crazy Operations Guy

    Terminator seeds

    I'm not sure how to feel about the concept, on one hand, making people buy seeds over and over again is an asshole thing to do; but on the other hand, it is responsible to do so in case something goes wrong with the genome and turns the crops into an inedible weed that chokes out all other crops that would require a massive effort to eradicate.

    1. Steven Roper

      Re: Terminator seeds

      I'm curious to know, why the downvotes?

      This is a well-considered post that concisely examines both sides of a controversial issue without bias or prejudice. What's the problem, guys?

      1. x 7

        Re: Terminator seeds

        the problem is the apparent bias and prejudice on behalf on Monsanto....

      2. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Terminator seeds

        No idea why either. I gave it upvote as it's a reasonable and legitimate thing to present.

      3. dotdavid

        Re: Terminator seeds

        "I'm curious to know, why the downvotes?"

        http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/a-blog-around-the-clock/files/2013/01/10yvf8m.gif

    2. smartse

      Re: Terminator seeds

      Most farmers buy new seed each year, GM or not. Have a read up on F1 hybrids. Terminator seeds never really made it off the drawing board and Monsanto pledged never to commercialise the concept back in 1999! I agree that an off switch in GM crops isn't a bad idea, but I seriously doubt that a crop would turn into an inedible weed. Are you thinking of weeds that evolve herbicide resistance?

  5. Tim J

    Chemtrail fuckwits

    What a saddening waste of brain power.

    There's an awful lot of *real* pollution out there that's worth worrying about.

    But no, invent some nonsense instead...

    1. Peter Simpson 1
      Thumb Up

      Re: Chemtrail fuckwits

      Yet global warming is a "myth"...

  6. Dave 32
    Black Helicopters

    Eyewashing

    So, is this just another version of "Eyewashing" that the hackers fell victim to? Sounds awfully convenient for them to find machines with root/root access.

    http://www.businessinsider.com/cia-distribtues-false-memos-to-deceive-its-own-workforce-2016-2?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=referral

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Eyewashing

      Sounds like they're trying to retrospectivly discredit such things as the Wikileaks leaks of all those diplomatic cables.

  7. Destroy All Monsters Silver badge
    Thumb Up

    NASA studying aerosols, film at 11

    This leet hack by fucking retards is exactly what I needed to bring me off a dangerous depressive attack.

    Thanks, I guess.

  8. x 7

    its all fake

    If it was true they would have found the real records of the Roswell aliens

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      its all fake

      x 7 - WHY have you been making more sense as of late?

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: its all fake

        I don't see why NASA would have records of Roswell, as NASA was created long after 1947. The hackers want the old Army Air Corps records.

        I wonder where their server is...

        1. The Man Who Fell To Earth Silver badge
          Black Helicopters

          Re: its all fake

          The Army Air Core server has been down for quite a while as they can't find replacement vacuum tubes.

        2. fnj

          Re: its all fake

          Big John, if 9 years is "long" after, I won't quibble over "long". But 1958's NASA was just a name change for and extension of 1915's NACA. All the interesting NACA airship technical reports and memoranda have been held by NASA since 1958. I think you're right that NACA didn't get much if any involved in investigations of looney tunes UFO stuff.

          You're also right this was two months before the establishment of the USAF (and the same month as my date of birth). This is another quibble, but it was the USAAF (US Army Air Forces) from 1941 until September 1947. Before 1941 it was USAAC (US Army Air Corps).

          I won't pretend I was boning up on this stuff as a newborn baby, but I sure was eating this stuff up from age 6 on. I do still have memories of the fighting in Korea, which was a bit before age 6.

      2. x 7

        Re: its all fake

        "x 7 - WHY have you been making more sense as of late?"

        sorry about that, its not intentional

        Note to self: must try harder when trolling.......

      3. CrazyOldCatMan Silver badge

        Re: its all fake

        > x 7 - WHY have you been making more sense as of late?

        Mind-control chemicals taking effect? Lizard/robot/feline overlords finally taking direct control?

  9. Michael Hoffmann Silver badge
    Alien

    Too much X-Files watching

    This actually brought back memories: in the early noughties a similar event occurred when Romanian hackers stole some GB of data they obtained by hacking into the South Pole computers.

    They then proceeded to try and blackmail the NSF and the Antarctic Program to pay up or the data would be released to Show The World The Truth. The FBI even got involved, but it was somewhat clear that the dorks through that they had stumbled upon data on the Soopr Sikrit UFO bases: the X-Files series and movie wasn't that long ago. The truth was out there, the hackers had found it and the NSF was going to pay ransom or the world would find out about the nefarious alien bases at the South Pole!

    In reality, of course, this was science data on the various elementary particle experiments going on there - neutrino/muon/etc detectors and such cool things. And yes, this data would enter the public domain anyway after a 2-year (IIRC) period in which the principle investigators got first rights to write their papers and publish their findings.

    For me the outcome was that I was sent to the Antarctic (incl South Pole) to assist the science teams with system lockdown and security awareness training. A once-in-a-lifetime experience I will cherish forever.

    1. Steven Roper
      Joke

      Re: Too much X-Files watching

      But - but - you couldn't have been at the South Pole! There's no such thing as the South Pole, you were duped by the reptoids that are trying to hide that the Earth is flat! What you saw was the encircling wall of ice that surrounds our world and goes on forever.

      No wait, that's not right, that's just another rumour circulated by the reptoids. You weren't at the South Pole because the actual South Pole is in midair over the massive polar hole that NASA have been airbrushing over in pictures of Earth for the last 60 years, that leads to the hollow world of Agharti and the lost civilisation of Atlantis.

      Sorry for the rant, I'm off to huff some chemtrail fumes to correct my errant thinking!

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Too much X-Files watching

        Spoken like a man who has had some deep refreshing draughts of THE TRUTH at Ye Olde YouTube Arms?

        I made the mistake of looking at a couple of flat earth links there, thinking it would be a giggle. And it was, only YouTube promptly started suggesting more. And oh my goodness, the kook well is fathomless, and like a tube of Pringles, it's horrid and bad for me but somehow hard to stop...

        1. Steven Roper

          Re: Ye Olde YouTube Arms

          Yep... Unfortunately I once made the mistake of searching for "science documentary" on Ye Olde YT and mate, did I pay for that mistake. Instead of the Saganesque insights featuring the likes of Michio Kaku and Amy Mainzer I was expecting, I got handed a massive pile of brain-cell-consuming woo. It's not an error I'll be repeating.

          And even though I have my StumbleUpon preferences set predominantly to science and technology topics, a fair whack of said woo still manages to slip through. Mind you, the occasional dose is good for a laugh. But even the best comedy becomes tiresome when there's so bloody much of it!

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Linux

      Re: Too much X-Files watching

      Obligatory Userfriendly.

    3. Paul Woodhouse

      Re: Too much X-Files watching

      you Jammy bastard... :p...

    4. allthecoolshortnamesweretaken

      Re: Too much X-Files watching

      @Michael Hoffmann: Cool! (No pun intended.) Any stories, perhaps for the 'On Call' pages?

  10. Joerg

    "hackers" ..not the little kids myth...

    These "hackers" surely aren't anything like the urban myth of them being little kids, university students and such.

    NASA is a military cover up and only some other military organization would have the resources to hack it.

  11. allthecoolshortnamesweretaken

    TL;DR - the 'hackers' found lost of stuff they could have got from the NASA webpage and assorted pages?

  12. allthecoolshortnamesweretaken

    Re: conspiracies

    I do love a good conspiracy theory - they can be great entertainment! They can also be a good mental exercise (finding factual errors, finding logical errors, honing your skills of debate and argumentation, etc.)

    Although my favourite ones usually are fictitious (they tend to be funnier than the others), like Red Dwarf's take on the JFK assasination or The Simpsons's spoof of The Prisoner (The Computer Wore Menace Shoes)

    Anyway, if you want to know everything there is to know about conspiracy theories, read Umberto Eco's Foucault's Pendulum. (The first quarter or so is actually more work than entertainment, the action unfolds somewhat less-than-hectic. But very, very instructive, well worth the time.)

    http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17841.Foucault_s_Pendulum

  13. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    The interesting bit is that the system they logged into, which was being used by Mr. Eric Jensen, has local accounts and does not appear to be bound to something like ldap or active directory (neither would not permit weak passwords), and it has the usual disclaimer when you log into it. Which means it most likely is a NASA provided system, and not for example a personal laptop on a guest wifi or a virtual machine. Considering physical systems typically are not allowed to have local accounts, especially not when on an internet connected network, Mr. Eric Jensen and some IT admins in Dryden, goofed up. It should be reason to at least have a serious investigation in how that could happen.

    Let's not even start about using NAS boxes with the worst password ever. At least use the storage and backup services your IT department provides instead of doing your own messed up thing. If anything it will give you plausible deniability.

    Of course it could very well have been a honeypot. Most of the information they gathered is publicly available.

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