Senate rejects rollback of Obama birth control policy

Blunt (J. Scott Applewhite/AP)In a win for Democrats, the Senate voted Thursday to table an amendment permitting employers and insurers to opt out of provisions in President Obama's health care proposal on moral or religious grounds.

The Senate voted 51-48 to kill the amendment, which was offered by Senate Republican Minority Leader Roy Blunt of Missouri as an add-on to the transportation funding bill. Blunt and fellow Republicans cast the amendment as a fight to protect First Amendment rights (which include the freedom of religion.) Prior to the vote, Blunt argued that the language should be deemed noncontroversial by his colleagues, stating on the Senate floor that every member of the Senate, barring some of the most recently elected members, "have voted for bills that have this language in them."

But Democrats said the amendment would limit access to contraception and infringe on women's rights at a time when Congress needs to focus on the economy and employment. "These aren't the issues we should be debating right now," Colorado Sen. Michael Bennet said on the Senate floor.

Following Thursday's vote, Blunt accused Democrats of playing politics with the issue.

"I am truly disappointed by the partisanship that has been injected into this debate on religious freedoms," Blunt said in a statement. "Instead of working to pass a bipartisan measure that has been part of our law for almost 40 years, this debate has been burdened by outlandish and divisive efforts to misinform and frighten Americans."

Blunt added that he will continue to fight this issue.

The future of Thursday's amendment in the closely-divided Senate hung on decisions from a handful of Senate centrists. Retiring Republican Sen. Olympia Snowe of Maine voted with the majority of Democrats to table the amendment, while three centrist Democrats-- Bob Casey of Pennsylvania, Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Ben Nelson of Nebraska-- crossed party lines to vote with Republicans in favor of the amendment.

The president recently proposed a mandate requiring all employers to offer health insurance that fully covers contraception, including institutions such as colleges and businesses connected to Catholic churches, for example, that may oppose contraception on religious grounds. The proposal sparked significant controversy, angering those who viewed the proposal as an attack on religious liberties as well as many Catholic bishops and other religious groups.

In response, the president announced an "accommodation" for institutions that object to the mandate, putting the onus on health insurers instead of employers to provide full coverage for contraception and other women's health services.

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Hacking NASA: Stolen laptop had codes to control Space Station

This story was updated at 7:31 p.m. ET.

A laptop stolen from NASA last year was unencrypted and contained command and control codes for the International Space Station on it, the agency's inspector general told a United States House subcommittee yesterday (Feb. 29).

In his testimony before a Science, Space and Technology House subcommittee, NASA Inspector General Paul K. Martin said the notebook computer stolen in March 2011 "resulted in the loss of the algorithms" used to control the space station. This particular laptop, Martin said, was one of 48 NASA notebooks and mobile devices stolen between April 2009 and April 2011.

Some of these thefts resulted in the leak of sensitive data "including export-controlled, Personally Identifiable Information, and third-party intellectual property," as well as Social Security numbers and data on NASA's Constellation and Orion programs, Martin said. [NASA Computer Hacked, Satellite Data Accessed]

The actual number of stolen and compromised devices could be much higher because NASA relies on employees to self-report incidents.

In an email, NASA public affairs officer Trent Perrotto told SecurityNewsDaily that "at no point in time have operations of the International Space Station been in jeopardy due to a data breach."

"NASA has made significant progress to better protect the agency's IT systems and is in the process of implementing the recommendations made by the NASA Inspector General in this area," Perrotto added. 

In 2011, NASA, which Martin rightly called a "target-rich environment for cyberattacks," was the target of 47 advanced persistent threats (APTs), 13 of which successfully compromised NASA computers.

These attacks are part of the 5,408 cybersecurity incidents in 2010 and 2011 that resulted in unauthorized intrusions or malware being planted on its systems and cost the space agency an estimated $7 million.

"These incidents spanned a wide continuum from individuals testing their skill to break into NASA systems, to well-organized criminal enterprises hacking for profit, to intrusions that may have been sponsored by foreign intelligence services seeking to further their countries' objectives," Martin said.

An example of one of these "skill-testing" hacks is the attack perpetrated by "TinKode," a 20-year-old Romanian hacker (real name Razvan Manole Cernainu), who tapped into a computer server at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in April 2011.

Martin continued, "Some of these intrusions have affected thousands of NASA computers, caused significant disruptions to mission operations, and resulted in the theft of export-controlled and otherwise sensitive data."

Martin's testimony highlights the difficulties NASA information technology officials face in securing the agency's laptops and mobile devices. As of Feb. 1, 2012, only 1 percent of NASA portable devices and laptops have been encrypted.

"Until NASA fully implements an agency-wide data encryption solution, sensitive data on its mobile computing and portable data storage devices will remain at high risk for loss or theft," he said.

Martin said software vulnerabilities in NASA computers are often left unpatched, a problem stemming from an IT chain of command in which the chief information officer "has limited ability" to fully implement mandated IT security programs across the agency.

This story was provided by SecurityNewsDaily, sister site to SPACE.com.Follow SecurityNewsDaily on Twitter @Security_SND and on Facebook.

View the original article here

Hacking NASA: Stolen laptop had codes to control Space Station

This story was updated at 7:31 p.m. ET.

A laptop stolen from NASA last year was unencrypted and contained command and control codes for the International Space Station on it, the agency's inspector general told a United States House subcommittee yesterday (Feb. 29).

In his testimony before a Science, Space and Technology House subcommittee, NASA Inspector General Paul K. Martin said the notebook computer stolen in March 2011 "resulted in the loss of the algorithms" used to control the space station. This particular laptop, Martin said, was one of 48 NASA notebooks and mobile devices stolen between April 2009 and April 2011.

Some of these thefts resulted in the leak of sensitive data "including export-controlled, Personally Identifiable Information, and third-party intellectual property," as well as Social Security numbers and data on NASA's Constellation and Orion programs, Martin said. [NASA Computer Hacked, Satellite Data Accessed]

The actual number of stolen and compromised devices could be much higher because NASA relies on employees to self-report incidents.

In an email, NASA public affairs officer Trent Perrotto told SecurityNewsDaily that "at no point in time have operations of the International Space Station been in jeopardy due to a data breach."

"NASA has made significant progress to better protect the agency's IT systems and is in the process of implementing the recommendations made by the NASA Inspector General in this area," Perrotto added. 

In 2011, NASA, which Martin rightly called a "target-rich environment for cyberattacks," was the target of 47 advanced persistent threats (APTs), 13 of which successfully compromised NASA computers.

These attacks are part of the 5,408 cybersecurity incidents in 2010 and 2011 that resulted in unauthorized intrusions or malware being planted on its systems and cost the space agency an estimated $7 million.

"These incidents spanned a wide continuum from individuals testing their skill to break into NASA systems, to well-organized criminal enterprises hacking for profit, to intrusions that may have been sponsored by foreign intelligence services seeking to further their countries' objectives," Martin said.

An example of one of these "skill-testing" hacks is the attack perpetrated by "TinKode," a 20-year-old Romanian hacker (real name Razvan Manole Cernainu), who tapped into a computer server at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in April 2011.

Martin continued, "Some of these intrusions have affected thousands of NASA computers, caused significant disruptions to mission operations, and resulted in the theft of export-controlled and otherwise sensitive data."

Martin's testimony highlights the difficulties NASA information technology officials face in securing the agency's laptops and mobile devices. As of Feb. 1, 2012, only 1 percent of NASA portable devices and laptops have been encrypted.

"Until NASA fully implements an agency-wide data encryption solution, sensitive data on its mobile computing and portable data storage devices will remain at high risk for loss or theft," he said.

Martin said software vulnerabilities in NASA computers are often left unpatched, a problem stemming from an IT chain of command in which the chief information officer "has limited ability" to fully implement mandated IT security programs across the agency.

This story was provided by SecurityNewsDaily, sister site to SPACE.com.Follow SecurityNewsDaily on Twitter @Security_SND and on Facebook.

View the original article here