A message sent to NASA staff by Bob Gibbs, assistant administrator at the Office of the Chief Human Capital Officer, via the agency's HR department, was obtained by SpaceRef on Tuesday. The breach affects anyone who worked for NASA between July 2006 and October 2018, and the agency said it was "offering identity protection services and related resources" to affected staff.
Indicating that "NASA cybersecurity personnel took immediate action to secure the servers and the data contained within" upon discovery of the incidents, the message went on to state that "NASA and its Federal cybersecurity partners are continuing to examine the servers to determine the scope of the potential data exfiltration and identify potentially affected individuals."
According to Bloomberg, the agency has about 17,400 employees.
"NASA does not believe that any Agency missions were jeopardized by the cyber incidents," the email noted.
"The agency is continuing its efforts to secure all servers, and is reviewing its processes and procedures to ensure the latest security practices are followed throughout the agency," a NASA spokesperson said Wednesday.