Epsilon security breach: 5 signs it's only the tip of the iceberg

This week millions of e-mail addresses were reported stolen from Epsilon, a firm that supplies e-mail marketing to BestBuy, Disney, and many others. Here are five more emerging targets for precision attacks:

5. NASA computers

NASA/Reuters/File
The Hubble space telescope, seen here in 2009 with the space shuttle Atlantis's robot arm, is at risk of cyberattack, a federal investigator says.

While many US government agencies have been attacked and data stolen, including the Department of Defense, the latest federal cybertarget is NASA.

"We found that computer servers on NASA’s Agency-wide mission network had high-risk vulnerabilities that were exploitable from the Internet," the NASA inspector general Paul Martin reported last week. "The threat to NASA’s computer networks from Internet-based intrusions is tangible and expanding in both scope and frequency."

The Office of Inspector General reported that cybercriminals had compromised one of NASA’s key mission networks in May 2009. The computer infection caused the system to make more than 3,000 unauthorized connections to computers with Internet addresses in China, the Netherlands, Saudi Arabia, and Estonia – exposing NASA systems to unauthorized users. In another January 2009 attack, "cybercriminals stole 22 gigabytes of export-restricted data" from a Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) computer system, the OIG report found.

"The sophistication of both of these Internet-based intrusions confirms that they were focused and sustained efforts to target assets on NASA’s mission computer networks," Mr. Martin reported.

"NASA relies on a series of computer networks to carry out its various missions, including controlling spacecraft like the International Space Station and conducting science missions like the Hubble Telescope," he concludes. "Therefore, it is imperative that NASA protect its computer networks from cyberattacks that could disrupt operations or result in the loss of sensitive data."

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