SAN
FRANCISCO: NASA confirmed that a computer virus sneaked aboard the International
Space Station only to be tossed into quarantine on July 25 by security
software.
A "worm type" virus
was found on laptop computers that astronauts use to send and receive email from
the station by relaying messages through a mission control center in Texas,
according to NASA spokesman Kelly Humphries on
Wednesday.
The virus is
reported to be malicious software that logs keystrokes in order to steal
passwords or other sensitive data by sending the information to hackers via the
Internet.
The laptop computers
are not linked to any of the space station's control systems or the
Internet.
"The bottom line is
it is a nuisance for us," Humphries said. "The crew is working with teams on the
ground to eradicate the virus and look for actions to prevent that from
happening in the future."
The
virus had no adverse effect on space station operations, according to
Humphries.
The space station
orbits Earth once every 90 minutes at an altitude of about 350
kilometers.
NASA is reportedly
looking into whether the virus got into the computers by hiding in a memory
drive used to store music, video or other digital
files.
Humphries said this is
not the first computer virus stowaway on the Space
Station.
"This is not a
frequent occurrence but it has happened before," Humphries said.