So says the aerospace agency's Office of Inspector General, which on Thursday published a report [PDF] that opens with the unflattering observation that NASA's software asset management (SAM) practices "currently expose the Agency to operational, financial, and cyber security risks with management of the software life cycle largely decentralized and ad hoc."The report rates NASA’s SAM capabilities as "Basic" – the lowest ranking on the four-tier scale the US government employs.The report uses the example of NASA's Oracle deal to demonstrate the issues, detailing how the agency was "unwilling to risk a license audit by Oracle because of the lack of solid, centralized visibility into deployment and use of the software."The report acknowledges that "funding and staffing shortfalls" have contributed to NASA's poor SAM capabilities.- NASA boss says US may lose latest space race with China- NASA retires Mars InSight mission after it enters ‘dead bus’ condition- NASA awards $60m to Texas biz for 3D printing future Moon base- Oracle's compliance cops now include Java in license auditsNASA's Oracle licenses are due for renewal in April 2023 and the report states that the agency's officials "are gathering requirements and examining 'how and why' Oracle licensing became so cumbersome and complex to manage.""