http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2011/10/drone-virus-kept-quiet/ By Noah Shachtman Danger Room Wired.com October 11, 2011 Officials at Creech Air Force Base in Nevada knew for two weeks about a virus infecting the drone “cockpits” there. But they kept the information about the infection to themselves -- leaving the unit that’s supposed to serve as the Air Force’s cybersecurity specialists in the dark. The network defenders at the 24th Air Force learned of the virus by reading about it in Danger Room. The virus, which records the keystrokes of remote pilots as their drones fly over places like Afghanistan, is now receiving attention at the highest levels; the four-star general who oversees the Air Force’s networks was briefed on the infection this morning. But for weeks, it stayed (you will pardon the expression) below the radar: a local problem that local network administrators were determined to fix on their own. “It was not highlighted to us,” says a source involved with Air Force network operations. “When your article came out, it was like, ‘What is this?’” The drones are still flying over warzones from Afghanistan to Pakistan to Yemen. There’s no sign, yet, that the virus either damaged any of the systems associated with the remotely piloted aircraft or transmitted sensitive information outside the military chain of command -- although three military insiders caution that a full-blown, high-level investigation into the virus is only now getting underway. [...] _____________________________________________________________ FINAL CALL to register #HITB2011KUL - Asia's premier deep-knowledge network security event now in it's 9th year! http://conference.hitb.org/hitbsecconf2011kul/Received on Wed Oct 12 2011 - 01:39:53 PDT
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