August 26, 2008
Computer Virus Discovered on ISS
NASA Discovers Computer Virus Aboard the International Space Station
"Reader note: This information was discussed at the ISS 30P SORR last week:
Special Topic on Virus detected onboard
- W32.Gammima.AG worm. This is a level 0 gaming virus intended to gather personal information.
- Virus was never a threat to any of the computers used for cmd and cntl and no adverse effect on ISS Ops."
Virus Infects Space Station Laptops (Again), Wired
"NASA declined to name the virus, but SpaceRef.com, which broke the story, reported that the worm was W32.Gammima.AG worm -- a worm first detected in August 2007 that installs software that steals credentials for online games."
Space Station computer infected, Houston Chronicle
"A laptop computer aboad the international space station detected a virus with a low level threat late last month, NASA acknowledged Tuesday."
Posted by kcowing at August 26, 2008 10:42 PM
- Working with Russians (and other partners) regarding ground procedures to protect flown equipment in the future.
- It was noted that most of the IP laptops and some of the payload laptops do NOT provide virus protection/detection software
Now is one heck of a time to develop procedures for this this problem and either to just learn ( or have known and done nothing about ) laptops not being protected from virus or other bad things. What kind of review and certification process is in place.
Posted by: observer at August 26, 2008 10:01 AMWhy is this a problem? None of the laptops are connected to command and control systems. The worst thing that could happen is that the crew would have to reload a hard drive. How much time and money are we wasting on something that is NOT a "big deal." Stop wasting our taxpayer money looking for trivia.
Posted by: Antonio Rogers at August 26, 2008 1:04 PMI guess they are not using Linux up there.
Where's Mark Shuttleworth when we need him?
Posted by: emarkay at August 26, 2008 5:18 PMThis is why they really should not be using windows for their operations.
The laptops don't control anything mission critical but they do provide a useful interface to control the Canada arm II.
But they still can pretty much do everything with out the laptops if needed.
But still they really should be running some version of linux.
Posted by: membrane at August 26, 2008 11:30 PMShouldaboughtaMac!
Bob Shaw
Here in the Space Coast area they rebroadcast shuttle audio on 146.94 MHz during missions. I remember listening to one of the missions where they were doing radar mapping of the earth. The radar equipment was controlled by a laptop and at one point the dialog went something like this:
Astronaut: "Houston, Discovery...I hit the F3 key and now the screen is all blue and covered with flashing numbers. I recommend that we power-cycle the laptop..."
There was a long pause (you could tell they must have been going over their options) when finally:
Capcomm: "Discovery, Houston...we concur with your plan to power-cycle the laptop..."
They were describing a Windows blue screen of death! (BSOD)
Murphy's Law operates everywhere. Today the infection does not seem to matter too much. But over time who can tell? Twelve years we're using linux at home for everything. Sum total of viruses? Nil. OK I scan for root kits, so far none.
Watch out, Mr Murphy's about.
Note to NASA: Use Macs! They are the most stable, most reliable and most secure OS on the planet today. It's a fact.
Linux is good, but Mac OS X is far better.
People that stick with Windows get what they deserve.
Posted by: Mark S. at August 31, 2008 9:43 AM