Space Station Infected by Malware
- 10 years ago
Computer Malware was hand-delivered to the International Space Station by a Russian Cosmonaut who brought along an infected flash drive.
Computer viruses are everywhere – even in space.
Of course, getting them there takes a lot more effort than sending an infected e-mail.
This time, they were hand-delivered by a Russian cosmonaut who brought a malware-riddled flash drive into the International Space Station.
According to Russian security expert Eugene Kaspersky, that sort of thing happens ‘from time to time’.
He stopped short of giving out any other information about this particular incident, including how the station’s functioning was affected and what it took to get rid of it.
Kaspersky also avoided telling people when it happened.
Experts guess that the corruption occurred at some point before May, as that’s when all of the station’s computer systems were switched to a Linux platform.
Prior to that, only the main controls were running on it, while the laptops were equipped with Windows.
Linux is generally considered to be more stable as it’s tougher to corrupt.
Kaspersky also offered some general words about malware.
He noted that over half of the malicious programs floating around cyberspace are written in Chinese. The next most common languages are Spanish, Portuguese and Russian.
Computer viruses are everywhere – even in space.
Of course, getting them there takes a lot more effort than sending an infected e-mail.
This time, they were hand-delivered by a Russian cosmonaut who brought a malware-riddled flash drive into the International Space Station.
According to Russian security expert Eugene Kaspersky, that sort of thing happens ‘from time to time’.
He stopped short of giving out any other information about this particular incident, including how the station’s functioning was affected and what it took to get rid of it.
Kaspersky also avoided telling people when it happened.
Experts guess that the corruption occurred at some point before May, as that’s when all of the station’s computer systems were switched to a Linux platform.
Prior to that, only the main controls were running on it, while the laptops were equipped with Windows.
Linux is generally considered to be more stable as it’s tougher to corrupt.
Kaspersky also offered some general words about malware.
He noted that over half of the malicious programs floating around cyberspace are written in Chinese. The next most common languages are Spanish, Portuguese and Russian.