WASHINGTON (AP) -- [5.9.98] Agents from the National Security
Agency will try to break into NASA's computers to determine
whether the space agency can fend off cyber-intruders who
could threaten launch-control and other critical operations,
the trade publication Defense Week reports.
The "penetration study" of the National Aeronautics and Space
Administration's unclassified computer networks is an effort
to learn how easily troublemakers can get to sensitive data
and what NASA's doing about it.
Teams from the intelligence agency will soon try to penetrate
NASA networks in up to eight states, said the newsletter in
the edition to be published Monday.
Last June, NSA "hackers" showed they could cripple Pacific
Command battle-management computers and U.S. electric
power grids.
The NASA "penetration study," which will be run under the
auspices of the General Accounting Office, stands out because
it involves a U.S. civilian agency, and such operations are
barred by the 1952 law that created NSA, the newsletter said.
However, the law barring domestic activities contains an
exception if the spy agency is invited to do the work.
Still, the publication said the planned test raised questions
of privacy.
John Pike of the Federation of American Scientists, a veteran
observer of both NASA and the intelligence community, told the
newsletter that the NASA test breaks new ground and bears
close watching.
"This is the next big step in NSA's expanding role in domestic
information security," he said. "It's certainly the first
reported major initiative of this sort with respect to a
non-military agency. While a number of safeguards are in
place, there are concerns about the potential for abuse of
this type of activity."
But Charles Redmond, the space agency's manager of
information-technology security, said the test was
"not an invasion of privacy."
NASA preferred to have the intelligence agency do the tests
because it wanted to protect security and proprietary data
and to avoid any conflict of interest, Redmond said.
The tests will determine how easy it is to access sensitive
sites and whether they can be accessed through the Internet.
==
There's a compelling reason to master information & news.
Clearly there will be better job and financial opportunites.
Other high stakes will be missed by people if they don't
master and connect information. -- Everette Dennis
==
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Received on Mon May 11 12:23:05 1998