Text settings Story text Size Small Standard Large Width * Standard Wide Links Standard Orange * Subscribers only Learn more Minimize to nav The International Meteor Organization, the nonprofit that coordinates and publishes amateur and professional observations of meteor phenomena, said its infrastructure has suffered a “critical blow” from a cyberattack. “We recently suffered a cyberattack that dealt a critical blow to aging infrastructure, taking much of our site offline,” a static page on its website on Wednesday said. “We expect several weeks of partial downtime as we transition to new infrastructure and services.” “I am very sad to see the site down” In the meantime, the IMO said it’s prioritizing the reporting of fireball observations, which can be reported here. The organization is also providing some information on its Facebook page. The IMO has helped forge unified standards for reporting meteor observations. Its databases of reported meteor and fireball observations—made up of text, photos, and videos—are also considered essential by many in the field.
The IMO also publishes the bimonthly WGN journal, which in English is short for Working Group News. The body was formally founded in 1988. It’s unclear why an organization that tracks large, fiery space objects hurtling toward Earth would be the target of a damaging cyberattack. It’s equally unclear why someone would want to steal its data (assuming that was the motive), which is mostly public. “I am very sad to see the site down,” Sam Lawler, an associate professor of astronomy at Campion College, told Ars. “It’s really useful.
I don’t have any personal connections there.” Attacks on organizations connected to space travel, observation, and research are rare, at least when compared to those targeting other industries. That said, they have occurred before. Examples are: A Romanian man accused in 2011 of damaging NASA systems A hack on the National Science Foundation’s Noirlab facility A cyberattack on the Atacama Large Millimeter Array observatory in Chile. US agencies warned in 2023 that private- and public-sector space organizations may be targets of nation-state-sponsored hackers.
The Russian government has also said that commercial satellites may be legitimate military targets. In 2023, Russia was reportedly tracking communications satellites used by NATO. The American Meteorological Society was hit by a ransomware attack in 2023. Unlike that case, there are no known reports of groups or individuals claiming responsibility for the IMO attack or seeking a ransom.
Dan Goodin Senior Security Editor Dan Goodin Senior Security Editor on Mastodon and here on Bluesky. Contact him on Signal at DanArs.82. 18 Comments
