Posted on 10/07/2011 11:19:43 AM PDT by PapaBear3625
An unnamed computer virus is compromising the security of U.S. Reaper and Predator drones as they fly missions in Afghanistan, Iraq, Yemen, and Pakistan.
Wired reports the virus was found about two weeks ago and hasn't kept the drone pilots at Creech Air Force Base in Nevada from conducting missions.
There haven't been any reports of classified data breaches, but the virus has resisted the military's best efforts to remove it.
(Excerpt) Read more at businessinsider.com ...
Nicely played.
Okay, thank you for the summary. I still don’t understand where the virus came from though. The other computer which downloads to the removable hard drive should also have been secure, right?
““We keep wiping it off, and it keeps coming back,” says a source familiar with the network infection, one of three that told Danger Room about the virus. “We think it’s benign. But we just don’t know.””
....and the cyborgs will start shooting in 3...2...1...
They obviously do have a communications capacity of some kind. And that must have been what was used to infect them. There must have been a drone downed, and they back engineered it. Yes this is clearly a national-sponsored attack.
And a challenge at each data interface The way to beat the virus is to use
an OS which is not affected by virii.
to a known authentication master key.
What type of engineer are you?
We do. But I'll lay odds that the operating system on the controllers is from the state of Washington.
Stealing keystrokes is not a big deal, but the possibility that the software might be on unauthorized computers is a big deal. They would know how the system is employed and controlled.
Microsoft PC for the cockpit and other These systems are developed by DISA, DoD spent millions of $ to DARPA Instead they use Microsoft which is It sounds like very sloppy operations.
Microsoft PCs for data and mission development.
which is overrun with script-kitties
who think Microsoft is a safe OS.
to develop a robust and attack proof
OS in the form of Berkeley Unix.
so poorly written it is virus ridden.
Thanks for the explanation. Is Sun Microsystems a UNIX based platform?
“An unnamed computer virus is compromising the security of U.S. Reaper and Predator drones”
Does that mean they will have to go back to “Reboot Camp”.
It seems this is a common problem for IT sec projects. That and the “it’ll never happen” determination.
One friend working for a gov’t contractor, when s/he reported that there were trojans on a network was told it wasn’t worth the effort to get rid of them because “they’ll just be back again tomorrow.”
“China?”
Plobabry.
***********
that powful!
NSA people should be competent enough to not have to rely on “anti-virus” B.S. If they can’t predict how their systems would be attacked, then they need to be replaced with some competent people who are more than just bureaucrats with management degrees. The military OTOH might have to look outside of its ranks if its culture doesn’t create enough of the appropriate experts. Granted, they depend on the private sector for a lot of things, that could easily be the weak link in the chain too.
>> >> reboot camp
>> groan...
LOL
Stuxnet was a worm, not a virus. If that's what this is, then Linux systems are just as vulnerable as Windows. The vulnerability is in the application, not the OS.
So much for Drones replacing human pilots.. It goes to show that we still have the need for pilots.. Imagine we have an air force of drones shut down by virus during a conflict??
IIRC it was Bill Clinton who loosened up the hiring to previously forbidden groups in sensitive defense areas.
He should have been subject to extraordinary rendition and then hung for treason, long ago.
NO cheers, unfortunately.
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