• US Drones Infected By Virus

    US Drones Infected By Virus

    Nigel Almeida, Oct 10, 2011 2211 hrs IST

    America's national security breached.

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The United States Security System seems to have been breached. Two weeks ago, the United State's Predator and Reaper drones were infected by a virus. However, there has been no confirmation whether the virus was introduced by accident or intentionally or even how much the damage the virus has caused. Three people have already confirmed the virus. It was detected at a Creech Air Force base in Nevada. The virus called 'keylogger', is said to have affected both classified and unclassified machines. Reports from Wired claims that there were high possibilities of security data being captured and transmitted overseas through the internet.

Drones have always been a key commodity for the United States military. They help military personnel to attack or gather intel from their hostiles without putting human life at risk. They have been used in countries including Pakistan, Africa, Libya as well as those in the southern Arabian peninsula. Some of these GCSs, (Ground Control Station) are operated by military personnel in Creech, at a military outpost in the Nevada desert. Despite it being a key asset for US military, there can also be quite dangerous as their sensitive security systems can be quite vulnerable. Drives and optical discs are some of the main reasons for their networks being breached. Reports speculate that technicians are desperately trying to remove the virus, but it keeps coming back.


The Air force on the other hand, did not comment directly on the issue and simply states, "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". In the end, the technicians from the Creech Air Force base used a software called BCWipe to erase the virus on the drives.  However, there has been no confirmation whether the virus has been erased, and whether the drones will continue to be vulnerable to viruses. This certainly is a matter of national security for American citizens, thus leaving their lives at risk.


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