The European Space Agency (ESA) has acknowledged a cybersecurity breach affecting servers outside its main network. This follows claims by a hacker, known as “888,” who alleges to have stolen significant internal data from ESA. The agency clarifies that only unclassified information was compromised and is actively investigating the incident. Preliminary results suggest minimal impact, with only a few external servers involved. These servers are used for collaborative engineering within the scientific community and do not form part of ESA’s internal network.
ESA has implemented measures to secure affected devices and informed all necessary parties. The hacker claims to have extracted over 200 GB of data, including sensitive development assets, and is offering it for sale in exchange for Monero cryptocurrency. ESA has not confirmed the validity of these claims or the extent of the data breach. The agency, headquartered in Paris and coordinating space activities across 23 member states, emphasizes the ongoing nature of its investigation and promises further updates.
This incident follows a previous breach in December 2024, where ESA’s web shop was compromised. The current situation underscores the increasing cybersecurity challenges faced by large organizations in scientific and governmental sectors.
