Hacker hacks NASA ‘again’, reports ‘vulnerabilities’; Here’s what the space agency did

A hacker claimed he "hacked NASA, again" and discovered "significant loopholes" in the US space agency's security system. However, what NASA did next, made netizens go, "wow!"

In a social media post, the hacker shared that he had reported the vulnerabilities to the space agency to give them adequate time to address them. After patching up the loopholes, NASA sent the hacker an appreciation letter, acknowledging his contribution in identifying the weaknesses of the agency's systems and helping to protect them.

Sharing a picture of the appreciation letter, signed by Mark Witt, NASA's Chief Information Officer, the hacker said, "I Hacked @NASA (again) and reported some vulnerabilities to them. Just today, I received this appreciation letter from them after they patched the loopholes!"

NASA, in the letter, acknowledged that the hacker's actions contributed to safeguarding the "integrity and availability" of its information infrastructure and praised him for identifying the vulnerability while following NASA's Vulnerability Disclosure Policy (VDP).

"The ability to detect and report security vulnerabilities is a valuable skill in the information security industry," said NASA.

The space agency also said they were able to safeguard the "integrity and availability of NASA's information" because of the hacker's awareness.

The space agency added that the letter is a "token of our appreciation" for the hacker's efforts in "detecting vulnerability and better enabling NASA to continue its advances in science, technology, aeronautics, and space exploration to enhance knowledge, education, innovation, economic vitality, and stewardship of the Earth."

They also said, "We are all in this together as a security community," and the hacker's participation and expertise "is commended".

Check out the post here:

The post garnered over 1.8 million views and intrigued several users to flood the comment section.

“Wow, huge W. congrats legend,” said a user.

“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,” another said.

A user commented: “That's a super cool job you got there! WoW!”

“That’s worth at least as much as a degree LOL,” added another user.

A user said, “As a kid, it was more important for me to hack NASA than to go to space. That's top-notch.”

“That’s legit super cool,” said another.

“‘I hacked nasa’ is a hell of a sentence. But then to casually put ‘(again)’ in there is awesome,” another user commented.

A user suggested that the hacker hacks into Elon Musk's SpaceX next to see what happens next. “Hack space X next and see what happens?”