On October 7th, 2011, Noah Schachtman reported for Wired on how a computer virus has infected the cockpits of America’s Predator and Reaper drones, logging the pilots’ every keystroke. The virus was detected nearly two weeks ago and has not prevented pilots at Creech Air Force Base from flying their missions overseas. Further, there has been no confirmed incidents of classified information being lost. However, the virus has resisted attempts at removal and seems to keep coming back right after authorities delete it.
Military network security specialists are unsure how far the virus has spread, but they're sure that it has infected both classified and unclassified machines at Creech. The drones are controlled by a series of serves called a ground control station, or GCS. The pilots then sit in stateside cockpits and use these GCS to fly their drones overseas. None of the remote cockpits are supposed to be connected to the public internet, which means they are supposed to be largely immune to viruses. However, even though the systems are not connected to the internet, viruses can infect the system through removable flash drives; these flash drives have been known to compromise military systems in the past.
Although the use of the drives is severely restricted throughout the military, Creech was one of the exceptions. Predator and Reaper crews use the removable flash drives to load transport mission videos and map updates; the virus is believed to have spread through these removable drives. The Air Force declined to comment directly on the virus: “We generally do not discuss specific vulnerabilities, threats, or responses to our computer networks, since that helps people looking to exploit or attack our systems to refine their approach,” says Lt. Col. Tadd Sholtis, a spokesman for Air Combat Command. Insiders say that senior officers at Creech are being briefed daily on the virus.
The source article can be found here.
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