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Computer virus infects International Space Station laptops

A malicious computer virus that steals passwords has been brought on board the International Space Station, Nasa has confirmed.

The virus, known as W32.Gammima.AG, was carried into orbit on laptops brought up by astronauts in July.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/connected...onnected/2008/08/27/dlvirus127.xml

  

Quoting MadameConcorde (Thread starter): The virus, known as W32.Gammima.AG, was carried into orbit on laptops brought up by astronauts in July.

You should think the notebooks would be checked before that  

It should be strongly pointed out that these computers do not run or otherwise control the International Space Station. They are laptops associated with independent experiments and other standalone functions. They are also used by the crew to communicate with family, etc. (in a roundabout way.) I suspect someone plugged in a thumbdrive with pictures of family from home or MP3s of their favorite tunes and imported a Trojan.

The Station itself does not run on Windows XP, and viruses are vanishingly unlikely to have any effect on ISS software.

Quoting NicoEDDF (Reply 2): You should think the notebooks would be checked before that Wink

I guess they will have them shipped back to earth (terra firma) with the next mission or else have them burned in the atmosphere when the "space truck" leaves the station.

sellotape the laptops to the outside of the reentry vehicle to demonstrate the best way of losing a virus...


I must admit that I did find this very funny, just that viruses know no bounds. Good that it was on a non essential system though, and thankfully the ISS dosent use Windows or any other regular OS so it would be harmless if it did get in.

Quoting MadameConcorde (Reply 4): I guess they will have them shipped back to earth (terra firma) with the next mission or else have them burned in the atmosphere when the "space truck" leaves the station.

This isn't the first time a Station laptop got a virus. It happened in 2007, too. It's just a stupid worm to steal gamer's credits and the like, unlikely to do much on a non-networked computer. They probably transmitted a virus eradicator program to the ISS and let them run it on the infected laptop.

Quoting MadameConcorde (Reply 3): I guess they will have them shipped back to earth (terra firma) with the next mission or else have them burned in the atmosphere when the "space truck" leaves the station.

It's a computer virus, not the plague! I'm sure a 15 year old with a little know-how can fix the issue. This sounds like something Norton or McAfee would catch and 'quarantine'.

According to Norton, the only passwords it steals are those related to online games, so I think it's safe to say that the "threat" onboard the station is just an annoyance.

Plus, it's pretty easy to clean.

Quoting Goldenshield (Reply 7): According to Norton, the only passwords it steals are those related to online games, so I think it's safe to say that the "threat" onboard the station is just an annoyance.

Maybe the astronauts on ISS cannot play Counterstrike Deathmatches against each other due to that fact...damn, how annoying  

Again, from somewhere back in the brain.....

When I was in Houston years ago, somebody (on the "inside") told me a story about a command being sent to ISS for a temperature change, and instead the attitude of the station changed!

That sounds like a bit of a virus, or perhaps better described as a serious software fault.

Does anybody have any details? Thorny?


Cheers!

SLCPilot

Quoting SLCPilot (Reply 9): Does anybody have any details? Thorny?

Haven't heard that one, but it sounds unlikely. Attitude Control and Life Support are entirely different systems. That said, the ISS command and control software was the long pole in the development tent for many years. Station assembly was delayed years by Russia's problems delivering the Zvezda Service Module, but by most accounts, the US Destiny module (where command and control is housed) was also running late and needed every bit of that extra time to nail down the software.

Quoting Thorny (Reply 10): Station assembly was delayed years by Russia's problems delivering the Zvezda Service Module, but by most accounts, the US Destiny module (where command and control is housed) was also running late and needed every bit of that extra time to nail down the software.

It's funny how necessary development time is called "delays," no matter what industry you are in.