According to this Business Week article , ROSAT's failure was brought about (accidentally or otherwise) by a cyber attack on NASA allegedly originating from Russia,
In 1998 a U.S.-German satellite known as ROSAT, used for peering into deep space, was rendered useless after it turned suddenly toward the sun. NASA investigators later determined that the accident was linked to a cyber-intrusion at the Goddard Space Flight Center in the Maryland suburbs of Washington. The interloper sent information to computers in Moscow, NASA documents show. U.S. investigators fear the data ended up in the hands of a Russian spy agency.
And i used to laugh at that satellite "hacking" scene in "Antitrust".
Slashdot Mirror
In 1998 a U.S.-German satellite known as ROSAT, used for peering into deep space, was rendered useless after it turned suddenly toward the sun. NASA investigators later determined that the accident was linked to a cyber-intrusion at the Goddard Space Flight Center in the Maryland suburbs of Washington. The interloper sent information to computers in Moscow, NASA documents show. U.S. investigators fear the data ended up in the hands of a Russian spy agency.
And i used to laugh at that satellite "hacking" scene in "Antitrust".
Watch the actual video of the TED talk on which the article based.