Editing ROSAT (section)

=== Allegations of cyber-attacks causing the failure ===
In 2008, NASA investigators were reported to have found that the ROSAT failure was linked to a cyber-intrusion at [[Goddard Space Flight Center]].<ref name="Businessweek, Cyber attacks on NASA" >{{cite web
  |title=Network Security Breaches Plague NASA
  |url=http://www.businessweek.com/print/magazine/content/08_48/b4110072404167.htm
  |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120414223803/http://www.businessweek.com/print/magazine/content/08_48/b4110072404167.htm
  |url-status=dead
  |archive-date=14 April 2012
  |date=20 November 2008
  |publisher=[[Business Week]]
  |quote=Without warning one day, the ROSAT satellite turned, seemingly inexplicably, toward the sun. The move damaged a critical optical sensor, rendering the satellite useless in its mission of making X-ray and ultraviolet images of deep space.}}</ref> The root of this allegation is a 1999 advisory report by Thomas Talleur, senior investigator for cyber-security at NASA.<ref name="Businessweek, Cyber attacks on NASA" /> This advisory<ref name="NASA, 2007, Talleur report" >{{cite book
  |title=Russian Domain Attacks Against NASA Network Systems|last=Talleur|first=Thomas J.|date=18 January 1999|publisher=Inspector General's office, NASA|pages=26 |no-pp=y|location=Not publicly published. Classified as "For Official Use Only—No Foreign Dissemination"}}</ref> is reported to describe a series of attacks from Russia that reached computers in the X-ray Astrophysics Section (i.e. ROSAT's) at [[Goddard Space Flight Center|Goddard]], and took control of computers used for the control of satellites, not just a passive "snooping" attack. The advisory stated: <blockquote>"Hostile activities compromised [NASA] computer systems that directly and indirectly deal with the design, testing, and transferring of satellite package command-and-control codes."<ref name="NASA, 2007, Talleur report" /></blockquote>

The advisory is further reported as claiming that the ROSAT incident was "coincident with the intrusion"<ref name="Businessweek, Cyber attacks on NASA" /> and that, "Operational characteristics and commanding of the ROSAT were sufficiently similar to other space assets to provide intruders with valuable information about how such platforms are commanded,".<ref name="Businessweek, Cyber attacks on NASA" /> Without public access to the advisory, it is obviously impossible to comment in detail. Even if it did describe a real intrusion, there is a plausible "no attack" explanation for ROSAT's failure, and the report is claimed to link the two incidents as no more than "coincident."{{or|date=April 2024}} However, NASA officials in charge of the day-to-day operations of the ROSAT mission at Goddard, including GSFC Rosat Project Scientist Rob Petre, say definitively that no such incident occurred. Talleur's information appears to have come from one of his interns who exaggerated a hacking incident on an office computer not related to flight operations.<ref>{{cite interview | last = Petre | first = Rob | interviewer = Jonathan McDowell |title = ROSAT hacking claim |url= https://planet4589.org/space/jsr/back/news.649.txt | year = 2011}}</ref>

IT security remains a significant issue for NASA.  Other systems including the [[Earth Observing System]] have also been attacked.<ref name="NASA, 2007, Challenges report" >
{{cite web|url= http://oig.nasa.gov/NASA2007ManagementChallenges.pdf |title=NASA's Most Serious Management and Performance Challenges }}&nbsp;{{small|(73 KB)}} 13 November 2007, p.3</ref>