Gangtok, 3rd September: Sikkim’s 26-year-old ethical hacker Rivek Raj Tamang has received international recognition after NASA officially commended him for detecting security vulnerabilities in its system. The US space agency issued two letters of appreciation to the Gangtok-based security researcher under its Vulnerability Disclosure Policy (VDP).
“The ability to detect and report on security vulnerabilities is a valuable skill in the information security industry. Your reporting has facilitated NASA’s awareness of otherwise unknown vulnerabilities and helped us protect the integrity and availability of NASA information,” wrote Tamiko Fletcher, Acting Senior Agency Information Security Officer of NASA, in the letter dated 23rd July 2025.
The recognition comes as part of NASA’s global initiative encouraging independent researchers to responsibly disclose flaws in its systems. Rivek, who also appears in NASA’s official Hall of Fame under his researcher name “RivuDon,” identified and reported a critical P1 vulnerability earlier this year.
Apart from NASA, Rivek has detected and reported flaws in systems belonging to the US government, Indian Railways, the World Health Organisation (WHO), the Australian Cyber Security Centre, and several private organisations. He has been acknowledged in more than 50 international “halls of fame” for his contributions.
Speaking about his journey, Rivek said, “Ethical hackers expose vulnerabilities of various systems and inform the people concerned to ensure that they come up with better defence for the system.”
The Gangtok youth, who holds a Master of Computer Applications, also received praise from India’s Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In).
“This recognition is deeply personal to me since childhood, I have looked up to NASA’s work on Earth and in space. To now be recognized by the same organization feels like a dream come true,” he said. “Coming from Sikkim, I want to show young people that it does not matter where you are from, you can achieve big things with consistency, learning, and passion. The sky is not the limit when there are already footprints on the moon.”
Rivek now plans to focus on cybersecurity awareness in Sikkim while continuing his international work in ethical hacking.
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