Criminal probe sought by European Space Agency over Scattered Lapsus$ Hunters breach

The European Space Agency has disclosed plans to call for a criminal inquiry over the Scattered Lapsus$ Hunters hacking group's recent claims of having compromised 500 GB of sensitive data from its servers through a yet-to-be-remediated vulnerability in September, according to The Register.

While ESA has not provided answers to queries regarding Scattered Lapsus$ Hunters' assertions, data samples released by the attackers showed internal files and documents from contractors, such as Airbus Group, SpaceX, Teledyne, Deimos Imaging, Thales Alenia Space, and SkyLabs. Aside from including operational procedures, Earth Observation satellite constellation details, system capabilities and security protocols, and other satellite orientation and position management files, the stolen data trove also allegedly included sensitive details regarding ESA missions and other space programs.

Such a development comes just days after ESA admitted to having limited external servers breached in response to the leak of over 200 GB of purportedly stolen data on BreachForums.