No Stuxnet Infection, but Space Station is Vulnerable

The International Space Station has its own isolated network of computers that run everything from critical life support systems to scientific experiments. Just because its isolated from the veritable electronic ecosystem that is the terrestrial Internet, however, it doesnt mean its safe from being attacked by malware or succumbing to a viral epidemic.

This was the shocking revelation revealed by anti-virus guru Eugene Kaspersky at the Press Club in Canberra, Australia, earlier this month. During his presentation, the outspoken Russian businessman discussed the cyber threats to global security and economy.

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The Kaspersky Lab founder discussed cyber crime, espionage and infrastructure attacks as the key elements of modern online security risks in descending frequency but ascending risk. He identified attacks on critical infrastructure as of most serious concern, despite there being only 2 or 3 a year. He used the attack on the financial system in Seoul, South Korea, as one recent example, but other examples included attacks on Middle East oil companies and rumors of an attack on a Brazilian nuclear reactor.

Focusing on the Stuxnet virus a malicious piece of code that was allegedly created by U.S. and Israeli programmers to attack Iranian nuclear reactors Kaspersky outlined a few examples as to how the virus has spread beyond its intended target, inadvertently infecting an unnamed Russian nuclear reactor.

Stuxnet is designed to be spread indiscriminately via Microsoft Windows networks and can be manually uploaded to isolated critical systems by infected USB drives, for example. The worm then gets to work targeting specific Siemens industrial control systems that monitor industrial processes. By design, Stuxnet is focused on Irans suspected uranium enrichment infrastructure, but according to Kaspersky, Stuxnet has spread into the wilds of the Internet and started to attack nuclear reactor systems in other nations, including Russia.

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However, he did not say that Stuxnet had infected the International Space Station, as some news outlets incorrectly assumed.

Using the International Space Station as an example of an isolated critical infrastructure, Kaspersky pointed out that despite being in space, it is still vulnerable to attack. In fact, on a number of occasions over the years the orbiting outposts computers have become infected by malware.

Scientists, from time to time, are coming to space with USBs which are infected. Im not kidding, he said. I was talking to Russian space guys and they said yes, from time to time there are virus epidemics in the space station.

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No Stuxnet Infection, but Space Station is Vulnerable