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A computer virus has infected the cockpits of America's Predator and Reaper drones, logging pilots' every keystroke as they remotely fly missions over Afghanistan and other war zones.
The virus, first detected nearly two weeks ago by the military's Host-Based Security System, has not prevented pilots at Creech Air Force Base in Nevada from flying their missions overseas. Nor have there been any confirmed incidents of classified information being lost or sent to an outside source. But the virus has resisted multiple efforts to remove it from Creech's computers, network security specialists say. And the infection underscores the ongoing security risks in what has become the US military's most important weapons system.
"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."
The NSA was too busy reading your little sister's diary to fix it.
(Score: 2) by Walzmyn on Wednesday October 11 2017, @10:57AM (9 children)
How did it get there?
Are the computers running our drone fleet connected to the World Wide Web?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 11 2017, @11:02AM
Possibly they are applying the "let's not secure stuff too much, who's going to buy upgrades then?" mantra straight from Microsoft's book.
(Score: 2, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 11 2017, @03:08PM
Tomorrow the Israelis are going to provide screenshots and live videos of the affected computers proving that the Russians did this too: https://www.engadget.com/2017/10/11/israel-kaspersky-russia-nsa-hack/ [engadget.com]
;)
(Score: 2) by frojack on Wednesday October 11 2017, @05:34PM (1 child)
Isn't everything, eventually?
You'd think these were air-gapped, but air gaps aren't all that impassible these days.
From the Creech cockpit direct to the satellite dish, to the satellite to the other satellite to the drone and back again, there is going to be an exploitable connection somewhere in that chain. And somewhere someone will find a way to get into that via the internet.
Remember the Iranian's captured and intact drone. They know how it all works. They've shared that with Moscow. Probably North Korea as well.
What I would like to know: With critical software like that, why don't you have an alternate software written to run on Linux, or BSD, (or what ever) that you can switch in instantly?
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Wednesday October 11 2017, @07:16PM
Glad I wasn't eating corn flakes in milk or I would have laughed them out my nose.
They're happy to have a single system that almost works most of the time, double/triple redundant software is for NASA's high profile missions, not Creech's drone fleet.
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 3, Touché) by DannyB on Wednesday October 11 2017, @06:40PM (3 children)
Isn't it always the fault of some contractor or some hired insultant?
To transfer files: right-click on file, pick Copy. Unplug mouse, plug mouse into other computer. Right-click, paste.
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Wednesday October 11 2017, @07:03PM (1 child)
"Insultant." How apropos.
I'm stealing that one.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by DannyB on Wednesday October 11 2017, @07:20PM
I did not come up with it.
In early 1987, as a Mac developer (Timbuktu), my employer received pre-release software. The pre-release MultiFinder [wikipedia.org] (which was a fantastic Mac innovation) had an About box featuring a sound track and scrolling credits. One of the credits was "fashion insultant". That is where I latched onto the term.
To transfer files: right-click on file, pick Copy. Unplug mouse, plug mouse into other computer. Right-click, paste.
(Score: 2) by legont on Thursday October 12 2017, @02:35AM
Obviously, it' Russians.
"Wealth is the relentless enemy of understanding" - John Kenneth Galbraith.
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Wednesday October 11 2017, @07:14PM
Air force drone pilots do browse the web, all kinds of web sites. They don't always follow protocol perfectly with respect to separation of personal and government computer systems.
🌻🌻 [google.com]