American astronomers “lost their sight” due to a hacker attack
The work of two telescopes at the Gemini Observatory had to be suspended indefinitely.
The Gemini North Observatory, which is part of the US National Optical-Infrared Astronomy Research Laboratory (NOIRLab), is a national American organization that conducts scientific research in the field of optical and infrared astronomy. NOIRLab was founded with the goal of pooling resources and opportunities to provide better conditions for astronomical research by the national and international community of astronomers.
“data-html=”true” data-original-title=”NOIRLab”>NOIRLab), this week suffered a cyberattack. This incident forced scientists to temporarily suspend all astronomical observations, as NOIRLab herself says informed on its official website on the first of August.
The Gemini North Observatory is located on Mauna Kea in Hawaii and is one of two telescopes at the Gemini Observatory. The second telescope is called Gemini South and is located in Chile.
The swift action of the observation team and the NOIRLab cybersecurity team prevented damage to the observatory. However, as a precaution, the decision was made to isolate the Gemini computer systems from the outside network by shutting them down completely. That is, both telescopes are temporarily out of service while the IT team investigates the incident and develops a recovery plan.
NOIRLab did not specify if this attack was ransomware. However, she stated that the incident did not affect the infrastructure of other centers and observatories, except for Gemini North and Gemini South.
The lab statement also said that the Gemini Observatory’s website and application tools are not available at this time. At the same time, the site of NOIRLab itself remains available.
Laboratory specialists continue to assess the extent of the incident and develop a system recovery plan in close cooperation with specialists from the US National Science Foundation.
Over the past year, hackers have repeatedly attacked various scientific centers and laboratories. So, at the end of 2022, the ALMA observatory in Chile was attacked, which forced researchers to suspend its work for a whole month.
And in April this year, the American Meteorological Society fell victim to a ransomware virus. Attackers managed to steal personal data of employees, including names, addresses and dates of birth.
Incidents like these only underline the key role cybersecurity plays for scientific organizations that store valuable data and are completely dependent on the operation of expensive equipment.
2023-08-04 15:30:00
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