Space Station Gets A Virus

It’s interesting to see that even the most technologically sophisticated environments face the same challenges as the rest of us. Some computers aboard the international space station (ISS) have been infected with a worm (called W32.Gammima.AG). And it’s not the first time this has happened.

Not the actual ISS In this particular case there’s no threat to their operations, but it’s interesting to see how some of the best engineers in the world let this slip through. The theory at the moment is that it was transferred from a crew member’s personal compact flash card.

It’s also interesting to note that the computers on board do not have virus protection, and that it’s believed it spread from one computer to at least another one.

Lessons to be learnt?

  1. Use a good anti-virus package. It’s not good enough to be extra careful, you need the best tools working in the background keeping watch.
  2. Be aware that flash cards (the kind cameras use) can carry malware. You just have to be careful who’s computer you put it into. We’ve even seen brand new devices ship with infected memory cards.

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