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  • Data breaches compromised the info of US undercover investigators

    by 
    Jon Fingas
    Jon Fingas
    08.24.2014

    Data theft is normally pretty bad all on its own, but a recent breach at US Investigations Services (a background check company) may have created some extra-strong headaches for the US government. Reuters understands that the intrusion exposed personal information of 25,000-plus Department of Homeland Security workers, including "some undercover investigators." There's no certainty that the attackers stole those agents' information, but there's a real chance that their identities are out in the wild -- a big problem if suspects can double-check identities and avoid getting caught. The concern is exacerbated by the nature of the attack, which USIS believes might have been "state-sponsored."

  • Pioneering astronaut Neil Armstrong dies at 82

    by 
    Jon Fingas
    Jon Fingas
    08.25.2012

    It's a story that we hoped we'd never have to report. Neil Armstrong, the first man to set foot on Earth's Moon, has died at the age of 82 after complications from heart surgery three weeks earlier. His greatest accomplishment very nearly speaks for itself -- along with help from fellow NASA astronauts Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins, he changed the landscape of space exploration through a set of footprints. It's still important to stress his accomplishments both before and after the historic Apollo 11 flight, though. He was instrumental to the Gemini and X-series test programs in the years before Apollo, and followed his moonshot with roles in teaching aerospace engineering as well as investigating the Apollo 13 and Space Shuttle Challenger incidents. What more can we say? Although he only spent a very small portion of his life beyond Earth's atmosphere, he's still widely considered the greatest space hero in the US, if not the world, and inspired a whole generation of astronauts. We'll miss him. [Image credit: NASA Apollo Archive]