Space Industry and Business News  
Computer virus goes into orbit

File image interior ISS.
by Staff Writers
San Francisco (AFP) Aug 27, 2008
NASA confirmed on Wednesday that a computer virus sneaked aboard the International Space Station only to be tossed into quarantine on July 25 by security software.

A "worm type" virus was found on laptop computers that astronauts use to send and receive email from the station by relaying messages through a mission control center in Texas, according to NASA spokesman Kelly Humphries.

The virus is reported to be malicious software that logs keystrokes in order to steal passwords or other sensitive data by sending the information to hackers via the Internet.

The laptop computers are not linked to any of the space station's control systems or the Internet.

"The bottom line is it is a nuisance for us," Humphries told AFP. "The crew is working with teams on the ground to eradicate the virus and look for actions to prevent that from happening in the future."

The virus had no adverse effect on space station operations, according to Humphries.

The space station orbits Earth once every 90 minutes at an altitude of about 350 kilometers (217 miles).

NASA is reportedly looking into whether the virus got into the computers by hiding in a memory drive used to store music, video or other digital files.

Humphries said this is not the first computer virus stowaway on the Space Station.

"This is not a frequent occurrence but it has happened before," Humphries said.

Related Links
Station at NASA
Station and More at Roscosmos
S.P. Korolev RSC Energia
Watch NASA TV via Space.TV
Space Station News at Space-Travel.Com



Memory Foam Mattress Review
Newsletters :: SpaceDaily :: SpaceWar :: TerraDaily :: Energy Daily
XML Feeds :: Space News :: Earth News :: War News :: Solar Energy News


ISS Program Facing Hard Choices
Washington (AFP) Aug 24, 2008
The chill left on US-Russian relations by Moscow's military incursion into Georgia could spell problems for future US access to the International Space Station, US experts said.







  • Carnegie Mellon System Thwarts Internet Eavesdropping
  • Tiny nation of Niue gets laptop for every child
  • 'Phoney' queues used to spur Polish iPhone launch
  • Yahoo mixes old and new in Internet-age news service

  • Arianespace To Launch Koreasat 6
  • Inmarsat Selects ILS Proton To Launch S-Band Satellite For Europe
  • Forecast International Projects 50 Billion Dollar ELV Market
  • Successful Launch For Third Inmarsat-4 Satellite

  • The M2-F1 - An Aircraft Without Wings
  • China's Tianjin building runway for Airbus test flights: report
  • NASA evaluates new wing sensor
  • Russia And China May Co-Design New Passenger Plane

  • Satellite's Data Collection Will Support Warfighter
  • Boeing Awarded E-6B Upgrade Contract
  • Defense Support Program Satellite Decommissioned
  • Raytheon Bids For USAF Command And Control Contract

  • Eyes turn to dawn of 'visual computing'
  • NPL To Create Encyclopedia For Space Nanomaterials
  • Key Advance Toward Micro-Spacecraft
  • MIT's Lincoln Lab Upgrades Sputnik-Era Antenna

  • Orbital Appoints Frank Culbertson And Mark Pieczynski To Management
  • Chris Smith Named Director Of Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory
  • AsiaSat Appoints New General Manager China
  • NASA names aeronautics administrator

  • Arctic Ice On The Verge Of Another All-Time Low
  • Changing The World, One Student At A Time
  • GOCE To Look At The Earth Surface And Core
  • Tropical Storm Fay's Center Now Moving Inland

  • Rockford Map Publishers Selects TerraGo To Enhance Plat Books
  • u-blox GPS Technology To Power Microsoft MapPoint 2009 USB Stick
  • XATA Adds Enhanced Mapping Capabilities To Fleet Management Solution
  • Airbiquity Announces Connected Services Platform For PNDs

  • The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright Space.TV Corporation. AFP and UPI Wire Stories are copyright Agence France-Presse and United Press International. ESA Portal Reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement, agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space.TV Corp on any Web page published or hosted by Space.TV Corp. Privacy Statement