Cyberattack knocks meteor-tracking nonprofit offline
The International Meteor Organization says a cyberattack dealt a "critical blow" to its aging infrastructure, taking much of its website offline for several weeks. The group is prioritizing fireball observation reports while it migrates to new systems.
The International Meteor Organization (IMO), a nonprofit that coordinates and publishes amateur and professional observations of meteor phenomena, has reported a cyberattack that severely damaged its technical infrastructure. A notice posted on the organization's website Wednesday said the attack dealt a "critical blow" to its aging systems, leaving much of the site offline.
The IMO said it expects several weeks of partial downtime while it transitions to new infrastructure and services. In the meantime, the group is prioritizing the reporting of fireball observations, which can still be submitted through a separate channel. Additional updates are being shared through the organization's Facebook page.
A key resource for the field
The IMO has helped establish unified standards for reporting meteor observations and maintains databases of text, photo, and video reports on meteors and fireballs that are widely relied upon by researchers and enthusiasts. The organization also publishes the bimonthly WGN (Working Group News) journal. It was formally founded in 1988.
It remains unclear why an organization dedicated to tracking objects falling toward Earth would be targeted by a damaging cyberattack, or why anyone would seek to steal its data, most of which is already publicly available.
