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US Drone Fleet Hit By Computer Virus
New submitter Golgafrinchan passes along this quote from an article at Wired:
"A computer virus has infected the cockpits of America's Predator and Reaper drones, logging pilots' every keystroke as they remotely fly missions over Afghanistan and other warzones. The virus, first detected nearly two weeks ago by the military's Host-Based Security System, has not prevented pilots at Creech Air Force Base in Nevada from flying their missions overseas. Nor have there been any confirmed incidents of classified information being lost or sent to an outside source. But the virus has resisted multiple efforts to remove it from Creech's computers, network security specialists say. And the infection underscores the ongoing security risks in what has become the U.S. military's most important weapons system.'"
Why? Windows crash and burn all the time, isn't that what a bomb is supposed to do?
Also, I doubt that this virus is just a random one, it most likely was created with the target in mind, so if Linux was used then the virus would have been created for Linux.
The big problem is that the drones keep ordering refueling boom enlargement kits, and four of them tried to fly to Nigeria to collect on a half-million gallons of jet fuel that was left there by a former Minister of Aviation.
This post contains no rudeness or derision of any kind. All arguments are friendly. Terms and exclusions may apply.
There is no more autonomous a kill bot than a human being.