(Newswire.net — November 13, 2014) — It is unclear what damage, if any, was caused by the hack on four of its websites, The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, NOAA, said, first revealed by The Washington Post.
To block the attackers, government officials were forced to shut down some of its services, which explains why satellite data was mysteriously cut off in October. Also, it explains why the National Ice Center website and others were down for more than a week. During that time, an official report said it has been under “unscheduled maintenance.”
Still, the aftermath of the attack did not prevent meteorologists from delivering forecasts to the public.” That is particularly important since the nation’s military, businesses and local governments all rely on nonstop reports from the US weather service.
The damage was small officials said; however, the impact of the hack was real: Scientists at Atmospheric and Environmental Research in Lexington, Massachusetts were unable to send a preliminary report about weather patterns to traders and investors earlier this year.
“We were shut out entirely. That’s our one source of data,” said Rutgers climatologist David Robinson, whose global snow lab also relies on the satellite data.
The cyber attack on the US weather system is only the latest one on the United States, as the US companies maintaining the US energetics systems was attacked by Russian hacker group DHS speculates. Prior to that attack, the White House was hacked last month. Shortly before that, hackers breached USIS, a federal contractor that knows who has top security clearances for the US government — because it provides background checks.