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Virus Infection Hits UK's Ministry of Defense, Including Warships

Posted by timothy on from the but-not-windows-for-warships-per-se dept.

Retrovirus writes with a link to a Register story which says that the UK's "Ministry of Defence confirmed today that it has suffered virus infections which have shut down 'a small number' of MoD systems, most notably including admin networks aboard Royal Navy warships."

13 of 290 comments (clear)

  1. Switching to Windows by JohnFluxx · · Score: 4, Informative

    Wasn't it big news about a year ago that the UK Navy were switching to Windows?

    Yeah, here it is:

    http://tech.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08%2F12%2F18%2F006226&from=rss

    Slashdot article from December 18 2008

    1. Re:Switching to Windows by zippthorne · · Score: 3, Informative

      Hah, no. The millennium started in January, 2001.

      --
      Can you be Even More Awesome?!
    2. Re:Switching to Windows by dethic · · Score: 3, Informative

      no ... it was almost 4 years ago ..
      http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/09/06/ams_goes_windows_for_warships/

    3. Re:Switching to Windows by KingMotley · · Score: 1, Informative

      If you read the article, you'd notice that the systems that were affected were the NavyStar email/internet servers. NavyStar servers are UNIX (HP NonStop G06) based, not Windows based. Also you should note that the mission critical systems (Like the Windows on Warships networks) were NOT affected.

      Please troll somewhere else. Or at least condemn the security of *nix based systems.

    4. Re:Switching to Windows by Dark_Gravity · · Score: 5, Informative

      Let me ask you a question: if someone was born on 01.01.0 how old would he/she get at the 01.01.2000?

      There is no such person. There is no year zero.

      --
      Bring back Sirius Punk!
    5. Re:Switching to Windows by Octorian · · Score: 2, Informative

      That comment makes absolutely no sense. IMAP is a protocol. Exchange is a mail/groupware server software package. Exchange supports IMAP, as do many other mail/groupware server software packages.

  2. ITV news last night... by martin · · Score: 5, Informative

    ITV News was stating it was also effecting 6 RAF admin bases as well and they outbreak has been running since well before Christmas. All of this hear-say as the MOD (rightly IMHO) are keeping alot of this info to themselves.

    Also no signs of how the malware got into the systems, accidently or a deliverate 'attack'.

    given the time to clear up and the large number of systems it's compromised it's a little worrying to the least.

  3. Re:What happened to *nix ? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    Me too. However its the email system which went down. Sailors are pissed (I live in Portsmouth and there was a bit about it in the local newspaper). Navigation and command systems were not affected as they live on physically separate networks.

  4. Re:pfah by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

    You jest but most of the old command systems did (and still do) use the command line. Trackerball input was done using a special key.

  5. Rum ration? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

    My father (Navy 1940-1948), like all other officers, got whisky. This is why people went for commissions. Therefore, if half pay officers had still existed, they wouldn't be drinking rum.

    The other side of this was my cousin, a Methodist lay preacher, who turned down a commission because "officers drink too much."

  6. Re:What happened to *nix ? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

    Putting on my most Pedantic persona :

    If you are pissed in Portsmouth then you have drunk too much alcohol, only in the Western Colonies does one refer to a state of aggravation as being pissed.

    I can only deduce that you Sir must be an American interloper in our fair land

    Now discarding Pedantic persona

  7. Re:B-5 by hughk · · Score: 2, Informative

    The QM stores are a critical item. Many, many years ago I was involved in a project deploying VAXes (11/725, I think) onto ships. The computers not only look after stock levels, they also say where stores are, that is which bin to look in. If your ship has just had a major malfunction or suffered a hit, finding the spares to effect a repair is a priority.

    --
    See my journal, I write things there
  8. wwII Japanese troop strength by number6x · · Score: 3, Informative

    In WWII Japanese troop strength was determined by tracking logistics. Judging the amount of water requested delivered to islands allowed the allies to determine troop levels on those islands.

    There are no non-critical systems in war time.