NASA spacecraft were ‘vulnerable to hacking’ for years but nobody knew until AI fixed the flaw in 4 days

Cyber criminals could reportedly have hijacked spacecraft or the Mars Rovers, or intercepted highly sensitive data from space missions, until AI spotted the problem and applied a fix

NASA spacecraft were reportedly vulnerable to hacking for years – until an AI programme rooted out the issue and fixed it within four days. The weakness could have resulted in hackers hijacking spacecraft or the Mars Rovers, or intercepting highly sensitive data.

The vulnerability lay in the security system designed to protect communications between NASA spacecraft and the Earth, reports Space.com. It reportedly lay undetected for three years, until it was discovered by an AI cybersecurity algorithm developed by California tech start-up AISLE.

AISLE boffins wrote in a blog post on the company’s website: “For three years, the security system meant to protect spacecraft-to-ground communications contained a vulnerability that could undermine that protection. A vulnerability in this software poses a threat to billions of dollars in space infrastructure and the scientific missions they enable.”

The weakness was said to have existed in the authentication system, and hackers could have exploited it using compromised log-in credentials. So by gaining access to user names and passwords of NASA staff, cyber crooks could have seized control of spacecraft or stolen data from space missions.

“The vulnerability transforms what should be routine authentication configuration into a weapon,” the researchers wrote. “An attacker … can inject arbitrary commands that execute with full system privileges.”

Once the algorithm discovered the loophole, it began to apply a fix which four days later made it watertight – showing the potential for artificial intelligence to detect and remedy such vulnerabilities.

But as one tech fan observed, it should be the boffins behind the Ai who should be credited with finding the fix. In response to the article, the reader posted: “AI didn’t find it. A programmer using AI did.”

Another agreed, posting: “Excellent observation. It’s sad/frustrating and even dangerous/oppressive to conveniently separate the technology and products from the labour/innovation of the workers who develop, mass produce and operate it… All it can do is what it has been programmed or directed to do by people.”

Either way, it appears NASA can now rest easy and get back to their important work – which for one space boffin, has involved identifying the ‘star’ that is said to have guided the wise men to the baby Jesus.

According to the Bible, the Star of Bethlehem guided three wise men to the town of Jesus’s birth, where they found the newborn baby and gave him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.

The star’s true nature has remained a mystery for centuries, but Mark Matney, a planetary scientist with NASA, has suggested a theory focusing on a comet. According to a new study published in the Journal of the British Astronomical Association, Matney pointed to ancient Chinese records from 5 B.C. that mention a mysterious “broom star”, an old-school term for a comet, thanks to that trademark tail.

He thought this comet may have come from the Oort Cloud, which is a distant region at the edge of our solar system full of icy objects and comets, and passed close to the Earth near the time of Jesus’s birth around 2,000 years ago.

For the latest breaking news and stories from across the globe from the Daily Star, sign up for our newsletters.