Slashdot Mirror
International Space Station Infected With Malware Carried By Russian Astronauts
DavidGilbert99 writes "Nowhere is safe. Even in the cold expanse of space, computer malware manages to find a way. According to Russian security expert Eugene Kaspersky, the SCADA systems on board the International Space Station have been infected by malware which was carried into space on USB sticks by Russian astronauts."
Skynet transported into space by sneakernet.
From the article As these systems are based on Linux, they are open to infection.
What system is not open to infection...
So, they found a backdoor left by NSA and exploited it.
They say that in space nobody can hear you scream, but I'll bet they can hear you curse. #$%@#$%!!! MALWARE!!!!
much of left-wing thought is a kind of playing with fire by people who don't even know that fire is hot - George Orwell
Even astronauts need porn in space.
I can't be the first guy to read this today and go, "Seriously? We infected computers on the ISS? That's freakin' awesome."
I use Kapersky and while I like the product I don't necessarily like this comment:
The reason is that the space station uses computer-controlled SCADA systems in order to manage various physical components of the satellite. As these systems are based on Linux, they are open to infection.
So even on the ISS there's no concept of an air gap when it comes to SCADA systems? I realize there's monitoring and management required but there are tools and policies for dealing with that but shit, what is being eluded to is that the Russian Astronauts gerfinkerpoked around with a USB thumb drive and now we have an F*d up multi-billion dollar, multi-ton object in orbit possibly out of control? I think that's a disservice to Russian Astronauts (Cosmonauts) everywhere.
All systems can have vulnerabilities but if the systems onboard the ISS have been compromised by trojans, malware, viruses etc. I think the Linux community needs
to be made aware of the vulnerabilities so that these issues can be addressed and code fixed. Not that ol Kaspersky here needs to make a but right, but if they're not inherently part of Linux and are just stupid admin pet tricks, then that needs to be brought to public attention so that the ISS partners can address their IT problem. Playing coy and providing anecdotal commentary on "infections" and "bad things happened at a Nuclear plant" only mean that there are still vulnerabilities and bad practices that need to be addressed. I mean it's not like we wouldn't have that happen here in the US, say on a major Website, right?
On the other hand Microsoft should be smiling right now since it was announced that the ISS was going all Linux just this year. Maybe it was because the Astronauts couldn't find the Start Menu?
Harrison's Postulate - "For every action there is an equal and opposite criticism"
How the fuck does that even happen?
Probably Vladimir downloaded some videos on his stick for the lonely hours. Staring at the stars makes you crave for other stars you know. The rest is history...
seriously will people ever stop making malware? its getting really annoying. Is there a way to stop the funding for it?
Malware embedded in sites.
Malware embedded in games.
Hacks/aimbot in games.
Govt sponsored malware.
Just think of how sophisticated malware has become if all that brainpower had been used to advance society.....
WHY DOES half the population of the world ruins shit and hold the other half back? (half being just an arbitrary number)
Now even those in space can order male enhancement drugs and refinance their space houses with ease!
Personally I'd rather have my idiots at home glued to the TV than out doing idiotic things
It's just part of an ongoing study.
And yet everyone is ignoring the possibility that aliens planted the malware. Interesting.
rewriting history since 2109
... I say Hiller and Levinson with an Apple Macintosh Powerbook 5300!
----------------------------------- My Other Sig Is Hilarious -----------------------------------
Ripley: I say we take off and nuke the entire site from orbit. It's the only way to be sure.
Hudson: Fuckin' A!
So who's idea was it to to allow a foreign USB stick to get plugged into a ISS system with root access? This seems like a major security protocol problem rather than a weakness of Linux.
When all else fails, run.
I for one, volunteer my services as the on-site information security professional for diagnosis, cleanup, and protection. Space Suit Up!
Nuke it from orbit, it's the only way!
Oh, wait...
Some knucklehead did not turn off the autoplay for CDs and USBs. It's as simple as that.
Hoist Number One and Number Six.
That's a hell of an air gap to cross.
While I was digging around to try and find out what SCADA systems the ISS uses (which I never found), I did find this: international-space-station-switches-from-windows-to-linux-for-improved-reliability which has:
in 2008, a Russian cosmonaut brought a laptop aboard with the W32.Gammima.AG worm, which quickly spread to the other laptops on board. Switching to Linux will essentially immunize the ISS against future infections.
I am Slashdot. Are you Slashdot as well?
From TFA:
Stuxnet never spread via the internet. It spread via USB only and then only up to 3 infections before it removed itself from the USB stick.
Good security is based upon reality and common sense. Common sense is a function of having common knowledge.
You just have to study if malware infections are at all influenced by gravity, if only to rule out that is of any influence at all. right?
I was promised a flying car. Where is my flying car?
Since TFA is obviously a load of bollocks, it'd be nice if someone would get us actual facts. Does NASA have anything to mention about this yet?
I was promised a flying car. Where is my flying car?
I specifically told them NOT to put a floppy disk drive in there (although I wasn't really thinking of the Russians at the time).
WARNING: Smartphones have side effects--most of them undocumented.
So... Space Porn?
First, the reporter that wrote this article obviously doesn't understand the difference between Linux and Windows. Stuxnet is decidedly a *windows* issue and is not going to be a problem for a Linux SCADA system.
Second, Who in their right mind lets a rouge USB stick even onto the station, much less inserted, mounted and code executed from it? I don't care if it's Linux, windows or anything else, you simply do not allow unknown USB devices to get mounted without at least doing some kind of scan before you do anything with the data/programs it contains. These devices should NOT be allowed, even in the astronaut's pocket, unless they have been scanned.
Third, What kind of Linux system admin gives out enough privileges to make *any* kind of virus/Trojan or other security issue to infect a Linux workstation/server by a user? You DON'T give out root access to just anybody without a good reason and a minimum level of training.
So, my recommendations? 1. Ban all rouge USB devices by policy and make a rule that they are not to be flown unless they've been declared and scanned. 2. Disable auto-mount/auto-run on EVERY system on the station that has an accessible USB port or optical drive. 3. Remove direct root/administrator access from all systems, except when absolutely necessary. Force everybody to be non-privileged "users" when accessing the station's systems. 4. On every system that the users routinely access (and all other ones as possible) install and run a real time virus scanner which is kept up to date, with static scans made at least weekly.
"File to fit, pound to insert, paint to match" - Aircraft Maintenance 101
The same way your own population might eventually pick up an engineered virus you released into an enemy population as a bioweapon, but with computers.
"When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel
Ban all rouge USB devices by policy
And ban the blue, silver, purple, grey, and every other damn color too!
In space, nobody can hear you fap...
"When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel
The malware was uncovered when the astronauts started getting pop-up ads about girls within the area wanting to hook up.
http://xkcd.com/713/
Previewing comments are for sissies!
What if there really were sexy singles in his area?
Seems like this happened before in 2008. A remarkably similar incident involving usb sticks, proving that a 370km airgap (spacegap?) isn't enough to keep malware out...
The Russian said this example shows that not being connected to the internet does not prevent you from being infected.
As any G20 attendees receiving a malware infested Russian USB stick would attest.
For those of us alive before most had even heard of "Internet" viruses then had no problem running rampant thought the world often by sneaker net, BBS or by private networks with no outside connectivity.
What is strange to me everything is so scripted astronauts often end up being more or less robots executing procedures from manuals or commanded to do so from ground.
The second part of the puzzle you would think everything going up is tested and signed off on by at least someone?? Do people these days just scrounge up USB sticks they had laying around the office before heading off to the ISS?
I don't understand the amateur hour permissive environment enabling this to occur.
The Russians evidently still haven't learned not to click on any link that ends in ".ru".
Are astronauts allowed to bring USB sticks (of all things) aboard?
Before you reply consider that they now have malware infections.
"If any question why we died, Tell them because our fathers lied."
Kaspersky said that half of all criminal malware was written in Chinese, with a third written in Spanish or Portuguese.
I didn't notice Microsoft introducing Visual Chinese++, nor did I notice a GNU Spanish Compiler.
Ezekiel 23:20
Oh, the CIA et al promote infections into Russian systems so they can be shut down or spied on, I remember.
First it spends a paragraph or two indicating that some unknown computer on ISS got a virus. That would probably be one of the Windows laptops used by the crew for personal email, general browsing, etc and NOT a mission critical part of the station itself. Those have gotten viruses before and probably will again. The mission critical systems never have.
Then they went into the weeds spending a short segment talking about an unnamed system at an unnamed nuclear plant getting infected with stuxnet. For all we know it was the solitaire and minesweeper PC in the break room. From there they talk about government development of stuxnet and blah blah blah nothing to do with ISS, and so on.
Damn spell check...
"File to fit, pound to insert, paint to match" - Aircraft Maintenance 101
In space, the bedroom walls are sticky.
Tomorrow is another day...
Relax, the article and its author (who submitted it) is a troll. It's a windows online game worm that poses no threat. NASA says it's a minor annoyance.
Free Martian Whores!
And it infects Linux machines? LOL Got to love reporters... Still, one should take this as a warning and do something to prevent something worse from happening. Which is the thrust of my concerns. Don't use administrator accounts, turn off auto-run and keep an up to date virus scanner in place should be the *minimum* for just about any machine....
"File to fit, pound to insert, paint to match" - Aircraft Maintenance 101
"Hey, look, someone dropped a USB stick right next to the launch platform. I don't have time to try it now but I'll be at the ISS soon enough and can try it there."
Invalid Checksum. Retrying.
I've seen pictures of the launch facilities in Russia.. I would not recommend you pick up *anything* unless you dropped it, and even then carefully.
"File to fit, pound to insert, paint to match" - Aircraft Maintenance 101
'Houston, we have a problem...What's bitcoin?"
"According to Russian security expert Eugene Kaspersky, the SCADA systems on board the International Space Station have been infected by malware", DavidGilbert99
.. moved all systems entirely to Linux to make them more "stable and reliable."' ref
'Kaspersky doesn't give any details about when the infection he was told about took place, but it appears as if it was prior to May of this year when the United Space Alliance
"Prior to this move the "dozens of laptops" used on board the space station had been using Windows XP, which is inherently more vulnerable to infection from malware than Linux." ref..
"The ISS's control systems (known generally as SCADA systems) were already running various flavours of Linux prior to this switch for laptops last May." ref
what the sensationalist title and summary are omitting is that this happened in 2008. while not in charge of control systems, they used Windows XP on laptops for some scientific software. however, they finished migrating and announced that they switched over to Linux, specifically Debian 6. (woo Debian!)
this is just more FUD
Anons need not reply. Questions end with a question mark.
Kaspersky says that malware got infected in space station .. will it be a tactical approach of kaspersky himself injecting the malware and seeking a solution for the publicity !! .. i may b wrong .. but if i were correct !! think
Space station infects you.
Star Trek transporters are just 3d printers.
It's a shitty virus that can't just change the gravimetric constant.
the preceding comment is my own and in no way reflects the opinion of the Joint Chiefs of Staff