• Malware implicated in fatal Spanair plane crash
    57 replies, posted
[quote]Authorities investigating the 2008 crash of Spanair flight 5022 have discovered a central computer system used to monitor technical problems in the aircraft was infected with malware. An internal report issued by the airline revealed the infected computer failed to detect three technical problems with the aircraft, which if detected, may have prevented the plane from taking off, according to reports in the Spanish newspaper, El Pais. Flight 5022 crashed just after takeoff from Madrid-Barajas International Airport two years ago today, killing 154 and leaving only 18 survivors. The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board reported in a preliminary investigation that the plane had taken off with its flaps and slats retracted — and that no audible alarm had been heard to warn of this because the systems delivering power to the take-off warning system failed. Two earlier events had not been reported by the automated system. The malware on the Spanair computer has been identified as a type of Trojan horse. It could have entered the airline's system in a number of ways, according to Jamz Yaneeza, head threat researcher at Trend Micro. Some of the most likely ways are through third party devices such as USB sticks, Yaneeza said, which were responsible for the International Space Station virus infection in 2008, or through a remote VPN connection that may not have the same protection as a computer within the enterprise network. Opening just one malicious file on a single computer is all it takes to infect an entire system. "Any computer that is connected to a network is vulnerable to a malware infection," O. Sami Saydjari, president of Cyber Defense Agency, told TechNewsDaily. "Standards have not been set to protect critical infrastructure." An incident like this could happen again, and most likely will, according to Saydjari. A judge has ordered Spanair to provide all of the computer's logs from the days before and after the crash.The final report from crash investigators is not due to be presented until December.[/quote] [url=http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/38790670/ns/technology_and_science-security/]Source[/url] Anyone else feels uneasy by the fact that a plane can get a trojan? :tinfoil:
IT'S FUCKING SKYNET!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! But you would think that the network for Airplanes would be more encapsulated.
Wait did someone purposefully put the virus in the computer with the intent of crashing a plane, or was it just the computer had got a virus on its own time?
Uh oh... Planes with virus's. This is not good.
Pretty scary to think that one trojan can kill 154 people.
Oh, they don't really know if it was on purpose or not huhh
Well FP, I've been on my last goddamned airplane. :tinfoil:
I did that same flight a month ago... :ohdear:.
[QUOTE=SomeRandomGuy18;24231524]I did that same flight a month ago... :ohdear:.[/QUOTE] oh god did you die
It would have to be on purpose, an MD-82 wouldn't be running standard Linux or (lol) Windows. It would most likely have a propriety embedded operating system to run the FMS/other computers. One wonders why they didn't air gap the FMS and the TOWS. In retrospect that seems like a horrible choice, but they might have had their reasons.
Planes have several computers, why would you be suprised that it can potentially be infeceted?
[QUOTE=B1N4RY!;24231594]Planes have several computers, why would you be suprised that it can potentially be infeceted?[/QUOTE] Because they usually airgap anything central and important from anything which can have data input. (Say, the FADEC from the FMS)
Are airlines gonna have to start buying anti-virus?
[QUOTE=WeekendWarrior;24231608]Are airlines gonna have to start buying anti-virus?[/QUOTE] Hopefully it's not Norton.
[QUOTE=SomeRandomGuy18;24231665]Hopefully it's not Norton.[/QUOTE] I know lots of companies uses Norton Corporate Edition products. They're not that bad when compared to the normal personal ones.
Go figure. Its a careless act to put the flight planning computer on a network. The coordinates should be scheduled by the pilot. FW is very important.. but the pilots own instinct of flying their plane is CRITICAL. If you see your plane veering off you should correct IMMEDIATELY. Always have redundancy! Even if that means having a flight engineer/navigator aboard; so you can always have redundancy.
[QUOTE=Richard Simmons;24231939]Go figure. Its a careless act to put the flight planning computer on a network. The coordinates should be scheduled by the pilot. FW is very important.. but the pilots own instinct of flying their plane is CRITICAL. If you see your plane veering off you should correct IMMEDIATELY. Always have redundancy! Even if that means having a flight engineer/navigator aboard; so you can always have redundancy.[/QUOTE] because a plane is so easy to pilot looks like you did that your entire life These guys are better than you and know how to pilot their plane.
[QUOTE=B1N4RY!;24231777]I know lots of companies uses Norton Corporate Edition products. They're not that bad when compared to the normal personal ones.[/QUOTE] Sophos is used in the local nuclear reactor. It's shit.
Holy toilet paper in a sausage factory. :ohdear:
[QUOTE=Kagrenak;24231582]It would have to be on purpose, an MD-82 wouldn't be running standard Linux or (lol) Windows. It would most likely have a propriety embedded operating system to run the FMS/other computers. One wonders why they didn't air gap the FMS and the TOWS. In retrospect that seems like a horrible choice, but they might have had their reasons.[/QUOTE] But who in the world would write malware that will only work on a handful of aircraft and why would he do it. It's not quite clear from the text, but i think the computer that actually got the trojan was a diagnosis computer used for maintenance. How in the world would you even put any kind of ordinary file into an aircraft via ordinary ways. I mean USB, VPN, what?
[QUOTE=pikzen;24232432]because a plane is so easy to pilot looks like you did that your entire life These guys are better than you and know how to pilot their plane.[/QUOTE] Depending on conditions, yes.. its easy to pilot your plane when you know it. Entire life? Absolutely not. Impossible, ever see an infant touch the rudder peddles and manage to ATLEAST control their conditioner at the same time? :downs:
I was under the impression any operating system on a plane would have been custom made by the manufacturer, meaning how can a virus written to infect windows machines infect a planes computer systems?
Well i hope the creator's pleased with himself...
[QUOTE=Richard Simmons;24232996]Depending on conditions, yes.. its easy to pilot your plane when you know it. Entire life? Absolutely not. Impossible, ever see an infant touch the rudder peddles and manage to ATLEAST control their conditioner at the same time? :downs:[/QUOTE] Well there, the conditions were three critical problems. And piloting a plane is not just about "moving a joystick i did that for hours in google earth :downs:" Guess why there's a pilot AND a copilot ?
[QUOTE=pikzen;24233490]Well there, the conditions were three critical problems. And piloting a plane is not just about "moving a joystick i did that for hours in google earth :downs:" Guess why there's a pilot AND a copilot ?[/QUOTE] Flying a new gen aircraft isn't really as hard as you make it out to be. The MD-82 is of course of older generation but fitted with a bunch of new electronics. Any newer aircraft with a 2 seat cockpit can be flown by one person, no doubt.
Must suck if they found out what virus it was and the creator sees it on TV(sucks for the creator).
If you read the thread, it said the maintainance computer had the malware, and thus didn't detect issues with the plane.
fuck man my mom's taking a flight to san jose
[QUOTE=jiggu;24233661]Must suck if they found out what virus it was and the creator sees it on TV(sucks for the creator).[/QUOTE] Not as sucky as getting implicated for manslaughter of 154 people.
[QUOTE=sphynx;24233346]Well i hope the creator's pleased with himself...[/QUOTE] He is touching himself watching the news right now.
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