Security News > 2022 > November > ALMA Observatory shuts down operations due to a cyberattack
The Atacama Large Millimeter Array Observatory in Chile has suspended all astronomical observation operations and taken its public website offline following a cyberattack on Saturday, October 29, 2022.
The observatory also clarified that the attack did not compromise the ALMA antennas or any scientific data, indicating that there are no signs of unauthorized data access or exfiltration.
"We are still working hard on the full recovery of services. Thanks for your understanding." - ALMA Observatory.
The ALMA observatory is comprised of 66 high-precision radio telescopes of 12 m diameter arranged in two arrays, located at an elevation of 5,000 m at the Chajnantor plateau.
The observatory is used by scientists of the National Science Foundation, the European Southern Observatory, the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan, and other groups from around the world, so any halt in its operations impacts multiple science teams and ongoing projects.
For now, users are advised to keep an eye out for status updates on NRAO's website or ALMA Observatory's social media channels.