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Data Breaches

European Space Agency Confirms Breach After Hacker Offers to Sell Data

The European Space Agency is conducting an investigation and says external science servers have been compromised.

European Space Agency hacked

The European Space Agency (ESA) has confirmed that some of its systems have been breached after a hacker offered to sell data allegedly stolen from the organization. 

The space agency is conducting a forensic investigation and is working on securing compromised devices. 

To date, the probe has shown that servers located outside the ESA corporate network have been compromised.

“Our analysis so far indicates that only a very small number of external servers may have been impacted. These servers support unclassified collaborative engineering activities within the scientific community,” the agency said in a statement posted on X.

“All relevant stakeholders have been informed, and we will provide further updates as soon as additional information becomes available,” it added.

ESA hacked

The ESA’s response comes after a hacker with the online moniker ‘888’ claimed on the BreachForums cybercrime website that they hacked into the agency’s systems on December 18.

The hacker offered to sell 200 GB of data allegedly stolen from ESA systems, including files from private Bitbucket repositories.

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The threat actor claims to have obtained source code, API and access tokens, configuration files, credentials, and confidential documents.

Several screenshots have been made public by the attacker to demonstrate the claims. 

Related: Polish Space Agency Hit by Cyberattack

Related: Hijacked Satellites and Orbiting Space Weapons: In the 21st Century, Space Is the New Battlefield

Related: Japan’s Space Agency Was Hit by Multiple Cyberattacks, but Officials Say No Sensitive Data Was Taken

Written By

Eduard Kovacs (@EduardKovacs) is senior managing editor at SecurityWeek. He worked as a high school IT teacher before starting a career in journalism in 2011. Eduard holds a bachelor’s degree in industrial informatics and a master’s degree in computer techniques applied in electrical engineering.

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