ESA confirms data breach
MILAN - The European Space Agency has confirmed a security breach of unclassified material from science servers following reports on social media.
A threat actor claimed to have compromised ESA systems and to have leaked roughly 200 gigabytes of data. According to screenshots shared on X by French cybersecurity professional Seb Latom, the actor alleges they were able to steal source code, API tokens, access tokens for multiple ESA systems, confidential documents, system and application configuration files and hardcoded credentials such as embedded passwords and authentication secrets.
The screenshots Latom posted suggest the compromised material may include subsystem requirements related to the Ariel mission - short for Atmospheric Remote-sensing Infrared Exoplanet Large-survey - a science mission designed to study the atmospheric chemistry of exoplanets, as well as Airbus spacecraft material dated 2015 and marked "confidential."
However, ESA said its initial forensic analysis, which remains ongoing, has identified only "a very limited number of science servers - located outside the ESA corporate network - that may be affected." According to the agency, these servers are used for unclassified collaborative engineering activities within the scientific community.
In December 2024, ESA's online shop - then operated by an external service provider - was exploited by hackers to process malicious payments. As with this case, the affected platform was hosted outside ESA's internal network.
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ESA added that relevant stakeholders have been notified and that short-term remediation measures have been implemented to secure any potentially affected systems.
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