U.S. Strategic Drone Fleet Infected by Stealthy Keylogger Malware
U.S. Strategic Drone Fleet Infected by Stealthy Keylogger Malware
January 2, 2012
Source: Eweek
Computers used to control the drone unmanned aircraft used by the military to carry out military operations have been reportedly infected with malware, according to a report.
A keylogger has infected several computers the pilots use to operate the Predator and Raptor drones in the fleet in missions , Noah Shactman wrote on Wired’s Danger Room blog on Oct. 7. The virus hasn’t prevented pilots stationed at Creech Air Force Base in Nevada from flying or completing their missions over Afghanistan and elsewhere, Wired reported. The United States military’s Host-Based Security System detected the malware two weeks ago and network security administrators have removed the malware.
However, it appears to keep coming back to re-infect systems. After repeated attempts to remove the malware, the technicians used a tool to completely erase and rebuild the systems from scratch. “We keep wiping it off, and it keeps coming back,” a source told Wired.
No one appeared to know how the malware got into the system, or what its purpose was. It has thus far infected both classified and unclassified machines and officials are not sure how far the infection has spread. Sources told Wired they believe the malware is “benign,” but admitted that didn’t know.
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