Exclusive: Computer Virus Hits U.S. Drone Fleet

Discussion in 'The Thunderdome' started by VolDad, Oct 7, 2011.

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  1. VolDad

    VolDad Super Moderator

    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 warzones.

    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 U.S. 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.”


    Exclusive: Computer Virus Hits U.S. Drone Fleet | Danger Room | Wired.com
     
  2. fl0at_

    fl0at_ Humorless, asinine, joyless pr*ck

    Sounds like a bootsector virus. Neat if so. They are rare.
     
  3. emainvol

    emainvol Administrator

    I have a friend who is probably very unhappy right note
     
  4. NYY

    NYY Super Moderator

    The government taking down PM's to rectify the problem?
     
  5. VolDad

    VolDad Super Moderator

    [​IMG]
     
  6. IP

    IP Super Moderator

    So if they can't wipe it, can they just replace the affected boot hardware?
     
  7. WM

    WM Active Member

  8. fl0at_

    fl0at_ Humorless, asinine, joyless pr*ck

    Depends. Boot sector viruses can sometimes be fixed by just replacing the MBR, but if it keeps coming back, it usually has two or three different stages. The virus could be a rootkit in a specific process that puts itself back on the MBR once the computer boots, then hides the rootkit. The process repeats friggen indefinitely.

    I've seen two really nasty buggers on computers I was repairing. One jumped onto my thumbdrive I was using to load antivirus software, and I didn't notice, and the friggen thing jumped on my computer when I plugged my thumbdrive in. So now I have two thumbdrives, and wipe one clean after every use in an infected computer.

    The second one I saw was this summer, and was on my sister's laptop that piggybacked in on another piece of malware she got. That thing was evil. I completely cleaned the computer and rebooted, and nothing. So I repaired the MBR, and the virus was back. So I wiped it again, and nothing. Eventually I couldn't get the computer to boot, so I had to restore Windows, but Windows locked me out because I couldn't register with Windows, since XP's service pack 3 includes an upgrade to IE 8, and Window's XP's registration only works with IE6. And the virus was still freaking there.

    I eventually got the computer clean, but only by using a specific tool (ComboFix from BleepingComputer) and a combination of luck.
     
  9. IP

    IP Super Moderator

    So what you are saying is we're doomed.
     
  10. fl0at_

    fl0at_ Humorless, asinine, joyless pr*ck

    [video=youtube;_49iNqxOnH4]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_49iNqxOnH4[/video]
     
  11. kptvol

    kptvol Super Moderator

    Perfectly symmetrical violence won't solve anything.
     
  12. vol_in_ar

    vol_in_ar Member

    probably al quida from a cave in Pakistan
     
  13. OBX_Vol

    OBX_Vol Member

    Too many AF guys playing Mafia Wars.
     

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