Patch 5.4 patch notes
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The latest patch 5.4 newsInternational Space Station has a keylogger
by Michael Gray 
Aug 27th 2008 at 12:30PM
NASA has confirmed that the International Space Station has been infected by a keylogger. It was carried onto the station by an astronaut's laptop back in July. The keylogger in question is the W32.Gammima.AG -- which is specifically a gaming keylogger. In other words, the ISS has the exact kind of keylogger that plagues so many of us in WoW.
NASA describes the keylogger as merely a "nuisance," but at least two of the laptops on board had the virus. That probably means it arrived on one laptop, and a removable device like a thumb drive carried it to another. Kelly Humphries, a NASA spokesperson, said "This is not the first time we have had a worm or a virus. It's not a frequent occurrence, but this isn't the first time."
For security reasons, Humphries couldn't say whether mission-critical systems were affected by the keylogger. NASA is working with its Russian partners to figure out how the virus got space-born.
Here's hoping the International Space Station has their Blizzard Authenticators installed properly.
Filed under: News items, Account Security
Reader Comments (Page 2 of 2)
Khass Aug 27th 2008 1:16PM
This seems like the kind of news that's just asking for a very witty reply that will /thread.
As such, in before.
Aurdon Aug 27th 2008 1:22PM
I think we can all safely infer from this story that NASA has been using "Astronaut Leveling Services"
Badger Aug 27th 2008 10:36PM
Yes, but ...
IN SPACE ... NO ONE CAN HEAR YOU "DING."
Bill Aug 27th 2008 1:30PM
Am I really going to be the first to say "All your base are belong to us?"
prissy.mage Aug 27th 2008 1:34PM
It really makes you stop and think that viruses could really do a lot of damage if critical computers on-board crashed and shut down the ability to stop generating air, or to even decompress the entire place, etc.
nativebrown Aug 27th 2008 1:44PM
this never would have happened if nasa used macs.
buncha nubs.
:)
Motecuhzoma Aug 27th 2008 9:44PM
rofl so true my friend so true
Smurk Aug 27th 2008 2:22PM
It's gonna suck when we get a shuttle full of naked astronauts back.
Damanuk Aug 27th 2008 2:45PM
You sir, win. Hilarious mental image of naked astronauts stepping out of the shuttle on touchdown.
Barnister Aug 27th 2008 2:27PM
What most of you fail to get so miserably is that NASA is supposed to be as secure as Fort Knox.
Apparently it isn't if a simple keylogger can find its way to a friggin' space station.
Magma Aug 27th 2008 3:19PM
Maybe it was his personal laptop, you don't know.
Sakerin Aug 27th 2008 3:27PM
As an interesting side note; WoW is not one of the games from which this keylogger will record account information from.
Source:
http://www.symantec.com/security_response/writeup.jsp?docid=2007-082706-1742-99&tabid=2
ScorchHellfire Aug 27th 2008 4:34PM
well look on the bright side... if a keylogger ended up killing all the people on the space station maybe all the f-tards out there that make them would stop because they could end up being murderers... one can only hope...
Cyber_Elvis Aug 27th 2008 4:36PM
I guess gaming in space what Blizzard ment when they coined the phrase 'Space Pallies' for Burning Crusade.
Foonbaba Aug 27th 2008 7:00PM
It was indeed a personal laptop brought on-board as part of the crew's personal items. These laptops never see the ISS functioning systems, and so could not be a threat.
Trying to get into the ISS functioning systems is, indeed, tighter than Fort Knoxx.
See the story and a recent picture of the ISS (not the 8-year-old pic shown above) here:
http://nasawatch.com/
Mr Cool Aug 27th 2008 7:44PM
They should have used a Mac.
BraveJoe Aug 27th 2008 8:52PM
Its funny cause when I first posted "What does this have to do with wow?" people say l2read. I read the article and it has little to nothing to do with wow.
Yes key loggers effect wow but this one didn't. They might as well have articles about carpal tunnel research because that can also effect wow gameplay.
"Any computer can get a key logger?!?" That is barely news and not remotely wow news.
Confalone Aug 28th 2008 1:53PM
Holy crap i hope this wasnt my fault. I work at the Canadian Space Agency and my laptop was just infected by a keylogger and my wow was hacked TWICE. The whole time I was on the CSA's wireless.
D.O.T. Sep 10th 2008 12:20PM
Wouldn't you be more worried if this keylogger began affected other computers as well? (Don't ask me how, but the thought arises of the possibility.)