The International Meteor Organization (IMO), the nonprofit that coordinates amateur and professional meteor observations worldwide, has confirmed its infrastructure suffered a "critical blow" following a cyberattack, taking much of its website offline. The group expects several weeks of partial downtime while it transitions to new systems. This matters because the IMO's databases and unified reporting standards are widely relied upon in the field, and the organisation plays a key role in tracking fireballs and other meteor phenomena.

In the meantime, the IMO is prioritising fireball observation reports and has been posting updates via Facebook. Founded in 1988, the organisation also publishes the bimonthly WGN journal. It remains unclear why the group was targeted, given its data is largely public, and no individual or group has claimed responsibility or demanded a ransom. Attacks on space-related organisations are relatively rare but not unprecedented; the American Meteorological Society was hit by ransomware in 2023, and US agencies have separately warned that space-sector bodies could be targets of nation-state hackers.