Space Virus Infects International Space Station

Actually, its a virus that steals passwords to games that is infecting laptops spacedudes brought with them to the space station.

From the BBC here:

A computer virus is alive and well on the International Space Station (ISS). Nasa has confirmed that laptops carried to the ISS in July were infected with a virus known as Gammima.AG.

The worm was first detected on Earth in August 2007 and lurks on infected machines waiting to steal login names for popular online games. Nasa said it was not the first time computer viruses had travelled into space and it was investigating how the machines were infected. It is thought that the virus might have travelled via a flash or USB drive owned by an astronaut and taken into space.

The laptops infected with the virus were used to run nutritional programs and let the astronauts periodically send e-mail back to Earth.

The laptops carried by astronauts reportedly do not have any anti-virus software on them to prevent infection.

Nasa told Wired News that viruses had infected laptops taken to the ISS on several occasions but the outbreaks always only been a “nuisance”.

Nuisance, eh? I guess installing a thirty dollar AV software client would be a nuisance too. So, you work for NASA and need to carry data into space with you. Obviously you need a piece of equipment that can withstand the shocks of launch and re-entry through the atmosphere. Such equipment is probably not very cheap, and I somehow doubt if Willie the Spacewalker has a Dell laptop with him. So… why isn’t the system protected against simple viruses? I’m going to say the NASA security guys are stupid.