NASA Hacking Issues: Unauthorized Access to it's Technologies

A few days ago the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) released its findings related to unauthorized access to NASA's technologies by foreign entities.

Auditors found weaknesses in NASA's export control policy and implementation of foreign-national-access procedures at some centers.

While NASA policies allow Center Directors wide latitude in implementing export controls at their centers, federal internal control standards call for clearly defined areas of authority and establishment of appropriate lines of reporting.

However, NASA procedures do not clearly define the level of Center Export Administrator (CEA) authority and organizational placement, leaving it to the discretion of the Center Director.

GAO found that seven of the 10 CEAs have organizational positions that are at least three levels removed from the Center Director.

Three of these seven CEAs stated that their organizational placement detracted from their ability to implement export control policies, because such positioning makes it difficult to maintain visibility to staff, communicate concerns to the Center Director and obtain needed resources.

Both the GAO and the NASA Inspector General reported instances in which two centers did not comply with NASA policy on foreign national access to NASA technologies.

For example, during a four-month period in 2013, one center allowed foreign nationals on a major program to fulfill the role of sponsors for other foreign nationals, including determining access rights for themselves and others. Of course, each such instance risks damage to national security.

Due to access concerns, the NASA Administrator restricted foreign national visits in March 2013, and directed each center to evaluate compliance with foreign national access restrictions and develop corrective plans.

By June 2013, six centers identified corrective actions, but only two set time frames for completion and only one planned to assess the effectiveness of actions taken.

Without plans and time frames to monitor corrective actions, it will be difficult for NASA to ensure that corrective actions are effective.

The GAO further stated that export control officials and CEAs at NASA headquarters lack a comprehensive inventory of the types and location of export-controlled technologies, and officials have not addressed deficiencies raised in oversight tools, limiting their ability to take a risk-based approach to compliance.

Export compliance guidance from the regulatory agencies of State and Commerce Departments states the importance of identifying controlled items and continuously assessing risks.

While NASA headquarters officials acknowledge the benefits of identifying controlled technologies, they have stated that current practices, such as foreign national screening, are sufficient to manage risk and that they lack resources to do more.

But, recently identified deficiencies in foreign national visitor access discussed above suggest otherwise.

Nevertheless, three CEAs have established early efforts to better identify technologies which could help focus compliance on areas of greatest risk.

For example, one CEA is working with NASA's Office of Protective Services Counterintelligence Division to identify the most sensitive technologies at the center to help tailor oversight efforts.

Such approaches, implemented NASA-wide could enable the agency to better target existing resources to protect sensitive technologies.

NASA and all other government agencies, U.S. companies and U.S. citizens must be aware of technology export controls.

There is a comprehensive set of U.S. laws and implementing regulations that govern the distribution to foreign nationals and foreign countries of strategically important technology, services and information for reasons of foreign policy and national security.

Licenses from the Department of State or Department of Commerce may be required to export certain technologies.

In such cases an "export" is any oral, written, electronic or visual disclosure, shipment, transfer or transmission of commodities, technology, information, technical data, assistance or software codes to any person or entity outside the U.S. including a U.S. citizen, a non U.S. individual wherever they are and a foreign embassy or affiliate.

Enforcement is the responsibility of the: Department of State for International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR);Department of Commerce for Export Administration Regulations (EAR); and Department of Treasury: Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC).

ITAR deals with the transfer and export of inherently military technologies. EAR deals with the transfer and export of "dual use" equipment, materials and technologies.

OFAC deals with the prohibition of certain transactions with countries subject to boycotts, trade sanctions and embargoes.

Every U.S. entity or person that is concerned, or deals, with the export of technology must be aware of the laws and penalties associated with improper handling of such technologies. Launchspace can help through its offering of a one-day course on "Facilitating Export Licensing of Space Systems."

This course offers a detailed look at the U. S. Government's controls over the export of space systems and related technologies. Topics include an introduction to export licensing, required agreements and licensing exemptions.

The latest developments and changes to these laws are discussed. This course can be presented at your facility when you need it.

Facebook out to buy solar drone maker to provide WiFi Internet access

Facebook is in talks to buy a solar-powered drone startup in what could lead to making wireless Internet available in regions without online access.

An unidentified source disclosed that the leading social network is considering buying Titan Aerospace for about $60 million.

Facebook declined to comment Tuesday on what it referred to in a statement to reporters as "rumours and speculation."

Titan Aerospace makes high-altitude, solar-powered drones that can fly for as long as five years without touching down.

Facebook-backed Internet.org, which has a stated mission of making online access available everywhere in the world, could put such drones to work as airborne wireless hotspots.

Titan Aerospace would start by making about 11,000 drones to fly above Africa and other parts of the world with minimal to no Internet access.

Titan Aerospace was founded in 2012 and has its headquarters in the state of New Mexico where it handles research and development.

The takeover, if confirmed, would come as Google works on a Project Loon to spread Internet access using balloons.

Titan Aerospace also provide a 'Space Denial Threat Solution' that pollutes the upper atmosphere with ball bearing projectiles travelling at high speed, intending to damage and disable GPS satellites.

Clearly this 'solution' is a weapon against all satellites and is a threat to humans and space travel.

It is not known whether Facebook would be interested in this 'solution' but any entity wanting to dominate space and the Earth could use it to threaten the peaceful and scientific use of Space.

Google Loon believes it's possible to create a ring of balloons that fly around the globe on the stratospheric winds and provide Internet access to the earth below.

NASA steps up security. Blocks access by Chinese to stop Data Loss

NASA has shut down access to an online database and banned new requests from Chinese and some other foreign nationals seeking access to its facilities amid mounting concerns about espionage and export control violations, the U.S. space agency's administrator said on Wednesday.

The security measures include a complete ban on remote computer access by Chinese and some other non-U.S. contractors already working at NASA centers, agency chief Charles Bolden said at a congressional oversight hearing in Washington.

The tightening of security follows the arrest on Saturday of Chinese national Bo Jiang, a former NASA contractor.

He was attempting to return to China with "a large amount of information technology that he may not have been entitled to possess," said Representative Frank Wolf, a Republican whose Virginia district includes the NASA Langley Research Center, where Jiang worked.

The FBI arrested Jiang at Dulles International Airport outside Washington, where he had boarded a flight to Beijing, court papers provided by Wolf's office show.

Jiang was arraigned on Monday in U.S. district court in Norfolk, Virginia. A detention hearing is scheduled for Thursday.

He is charged with lying to federal law enforcement agents about computer hardware he planned to take with him to China, the court documents show.

Wolf, who chairs the House Appropriations subcommittee on commerce, justice and science, identified Jiang last week during another hearing on possible security lapses at NASA field centers.

"We know that China is an active, aggressive espionage threat," Wolf, a longtime China critic, said during Wednesday's hearing.

"A recent White House report said that the technologies NASA works on - aerospace and aeronautics - are those that the Chinese have most heavily targeted," Wolf added.

NASA is cooperating with federal investigators, in addition to conducting two internal reviews, Bolden said.

The reviews are expected to be completed within a week, likely to be followed by an external investigation, Bolden added.

In the interim, NASA closed its Technical Reports database "while we review whether there is a risk of export control documents being made available on this website," Bolden said.

Other security upgrades include a moratorium on granting any new access to NASA facilities for individuals from China, Myanmar, Eritrea, Iran, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Sudan and Uzbekistan.

In addition, 281 foreign nationals, including 192 from China, who currently have access to NASA facilities have had their remote computer access shut down, Bolden said.

"This is about national security, not about NASA security, and I take that personally. I'm responsible and I will hold myself accountable once those reviews are completed," Bolden said.

'Sighted' wheelchair for the Blind

The introduction of the white cane early in the last century gave blind and visually-impaired users a mobility tool that not only helped them to get around, but also allowed them to be seen by others.

Now researchers from Sweden's Luleå University of Technology – the same place that designed the autonomous wheelchair – have developed and publicly tested a system which could potentially give wheelchair-bound blind people a virtual white stick to help them detect and avoid obstacles.

An electric wheelchair has been fitted with a navigational laser scanner which provides virtual 3D maps of the surroundings, and sends feedback about any obstructions to the user via a haptic interface.

Using the time of flight technique, a pioneering navigational laser scanner developed by professor Kalevi Hyyppä of the University's EISLAB sweeps the area around the wheelchair to produce a virtual 3D map of the surroundings.

This information is sent to a haptic interface, which allows the user to "see or feel" obstacles such as open doors, or pedestrians, and use the joystick to navigate past them without so much as a bump.

The first public test run was undertaken by the project's prospective PhD student Daniel Innala Ahlmark (who is himself visually-impaired), along one of the busy corridors of the University's Computer Science, Electrical and Space Engineering Department. He remarked afterward that he felt safe when using the system, and that it was just "like using a white cane."

The team – which also includes assistant professor Håkan Fredriksson and PhD student Fredrik Broström – admits that there are a few limitations to overcome before such a mobility tool could go into commercial production.

The current laser scanning system, for instance, cannot register anything above and below the beam, so plans are underway to develop a 3D camera that will be able to produce multi-level virtual maps.

It is estimated that a more sensitive, production-ready system could be available within the next five years.

Climate action should boost energy access for poor: UN

Tackling climate change should also include providing low-carbon energy to the poor, UN agencies said Monday, pointing out that almost one third of the world's population remains in the dark at night.

The report, The Energy Access Situation in Developing Countries, is published by the UN Development Programme (UNDP) and World Health Organization (WHO).

It notes that 80 percent of people without access to electricity live in the world's least developed countries, led by sub-Saharan Africa. The figure is highest in Burundi, Chad and Liberia, where 97 percent have no electricity.

Minoru Takada, in charge of energy and the environment at the UNDP, said failure to gain access to reliable energy made it "particularly difficult" for such countries to attain the UN's Millennium Development Goals on reducing poverty rates by 2015.

Lack of access to cleaner, reliable sources of energy means that three billion people depend on traditional biomass and coal to cook their food or heat their homes, says the report.

The fuels are not only a significant contribution to global warming because of the partial combustion of the gases.

Particles and fumes from them are also blamed for the death of two million people each year from pneumonia, chronic lung disease and lung cancer.

Therefore, all we need to discuss and resolve now, is how to curb the growth in the population explosion and the inevitable demand for scarer resources, encroachment into wild spaces and rampant consumerism.