A hacker has claimed to have breached NASA's systems for the second time, exposing significant security loopholes. The hacker announced this on X, stating that after discovering the loopholes, they reported the issues to NASA to give the agency adequate time to address them.
In response, NASA sent the hacker an official letter of appreciation, acknowledging their contribution in identifying weaknesses and helping to protect the agency's systems. The letter was signed by Mark Witt, NASA's Chief Information Officer. The space agency recognized that the hacker's actions played a role in safeguarding the "integrity and availability" of its information infrastructure.
The post stated, "I Hacked @NASA (again) and reported some vulnerabilities to them. Just today, I received this appreciation letter from them after they patched the loopholes!"
The hacker was praised by the Space Agency for identifying the vulnerability while following NASA's Vulnerability Disclosure Policy (VDP). The hacker was also acknowledged for their work as an "independent security researcher."
The appreciation letter also mentioned, "The ability to detect and report security vulnerabilities is a valuable skill in the information security industry."
The Space Agency continued, saying, they were able to safeguard the "integrity and availability of NASA's information" because of the hacker's awareness.
The post has received over 1.8 million views and an array of comments.
A user wrote, "Congrats! That's a massive personal resume builder -- on top of being vital to preventing someone else coming upon the same thought patterns and execution strategy as you. Might not have been a white hat hacker that time!"
Another user commented, "So hacking NASA is not just a meme haha, great job!"
"Good on NASA for rewarding security researchers (rather than punishing with legal action), it's really only in their best interests. Massive props and congratulations to you, good sir," the third user wrote.
