Hackers Disrupt Online NASA Education Competition

3 Black Girls Competing to Win Trip to NASA Reportedly Hacked by Racists, The Root

"The three, who volunteer at the Inclusive Innovation Incubator program in D.C., sought to create a technology that would purify public schools' water systems through filtration jars that filter water while detecting pH imbalances. After making it to the semifinal round, the young women were in the lead with 78 percent of the vote (which someone was kind enough to take a screenshot of) when NASA closed voting a day early to "protect the integrity of the vote." Although several media outlets erroneously reported that the early close was because the girls and their fans had voted too much, apparently what happened was that someone hacked into the voting system to take votes away from IN3."

NASA Statement

"On Sunday, April 29, hackers attempted to change the vote totals in the NASA OPSPARC Challenge, so managers of the challenge decided to end public voting to protect the integrity of the results. The challenge team has an accurate record of the voting results prior to the attempted disruption. The top three Public Choice teams in each category will be notified and recognized on the challenge website. In accordance with the judging criteria and voting procedures stated on the OPSPARC website, a panel of NASA Goddard judges will make a final determination of the winners using the published rubrics."

Keith's note: NASA Needs to fix this. It should never have happened and should never happen again.

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