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NASA sells off PCs with secret Shuttle data

By Stewart Mitchell

Posted on 8 Dec 2010 at 15:01

Anyone looking to build a space-going plane could do worse than peruse second-hand computer shops in the Cape Kennedy area.

That's the home of US space agency NASA, which has admitted it released unwiped hard drives from its Shuttle programme.

Officials looking into NASA's “sanitisation and disposal processes” said they discovered that 10 machines containing potentially classified information had been sold on, while another four were only properly processed once an emergency investigation caught them leaving the facility.

“During our audit, we discovered significant weaknesses that had resulted in the inappropriate release of NASA data,” said an Office of Inspector General report into the leak.

Internet Protocol information could provide a hacker with the details needed to target specific NASA network assets

“Specifically, Kennedy [Space Centre] released to the public 10 computers that had failed verification testing and therefore still contained NASA data. We confiscated four other computers that had also failed the testing, but were still being prepared for release or sale.”

The report said that although it was impossible to know what was on the ten computers released from the site, an inspection of the four PCs that were caught at the last minute showed at one contained material that would be subject to International Traffic in Arms Regulations.

The report didn't detail the contents, but said even machines that had been properly data wiped for disposal still carried a threat to NASA security because they bore stickers detailing network details of the organisation.

“We found computers at the Kennedy disposal facility that were being prepared for sale on which NASA Internet Protocol information was prominently displayed,” the report said.

“Internet Protocol information could provide a hacker with the details needed to target specific NASA network assets and exploit weaknesses, resulting in the compromise of sensitive information.”