French Navy Fighters Grounded By Computer Virus
By Glenn Church | Related entries in Military
Here is the simple way to ground a country’s air force…
The Telegraph is reporting that fighter planes in the French navy were unable to take off after their computers were infected by a computer virus.
The aircraft were unable to download their flight plans after databases were infected by a Microsoft virus they had already been warned about several months beforehand.
At one point French naval staff were also instructed not to even open their computers.
Microsoft had warned that the “Conficker†virus, transmitted through Windows, was attacking computer systems in October last year, but according to reports the French military ignored the warning and failed to install the necessary security measures.
You would think the French military would get a copy of Norton or McAfee or something. It is simply amazing that one of the world’s most advanced nations would blow it big time on something so basic. On top of it, the havoc was probably caused by a deceptively simple act.
Naval officials said the “infectionâ€â€˜ was probably due more to negligence than a deliberate attempt to compromise French national security. It said it suspected someone at the navy had used an infected USB key.
Terrorists around the world must be taking note of things like this.
Of course, the French try to pass it off as no big deal.
“The computer virus problem had no effect on the availability of our forces.†The virus attacked the non-secured internal French navy network called Intramar and was detected on 21 January. The whole network was affected and military staff were instructed not to start their computers.
According to Liberation newspaper, two days later the chiefs of staff decided to isolate Intramar from the military’s other computer systems, but certain computers at the Villacoublay air base and in the 8th Transmissions Regiment were infected. Liberation reported that on the 15 and 16 January the Navy’s Rafale aircraft were “nailed to the ground†because they were unable to “download their flight plansâ€. The aircraft were eventually activated by “another systemâ€.
Sure, no effect as long as the computers aren’t started or the pilots don’t want a flight plan.
Quite possibly the next great war will begin and end like this. Whichever side keeps its anti-virus software up-to-date and runs periodic scans wins. Now someone just needs to explain that to the Generals and Admirals.
(from Foolocracy.com)
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February 8th, 2009 at 6:33 pm
You would think the French military would get a copy of Norton or McAfee or something. It is simply amazing that one of the world’s most advanced nations would blow it big time on something so basic. On top of it, the havoc was probably caused by a deceptively simple act.
Just like in the medical industry, you can’t use anti-virus. Period. The problem with anti-virus is that it affects the timing of the actions of the OS by random amounts (depending on the number of files it has to scan etc.) and it can actually slow down the overall speed of processing. A more radical form of this can be seen if you try to watch a youtube video during a system scan.
Unfortunately with a high speed jet you can’t have calculations be completed at random speeds. The software for target acquisition or automatic navigation require real time results calculation. For example if you as a pilot were to nose into a box canyon it is physically impossible for you to pull up fast enough to avoid the wall at the far end, computers have to read terrain, calculate the necessary modifications needed to pull out (without killing you with G forces) and execute them. delay those calculations by even .1% each and the compounded delay could have you doing excavation instead of negotiation.
Calibrated reactions are an absolute necessity and you can’t calibrate a system with AV installed.
February 8th, 2009 at 7:22 pm
Donklephant » Blog Archive » French Navy Fighters Grounded By ……
“The computer virus problem had no effect on the availability of our forces.†The virus attacked the non-secured internal French navy network called Intramar and was detected on 21 January. The whole network was affected and military ……
February 8th, 2009 at 9:32 pm
Several related points here -
First, it is not just viruses that have to be considered. It is now just a bit over 30 years since Air New Zealand lost a DC10 as a result of changes made to nav points without the knowledge of the flight crew – changes that were made to the left instead of the right of the flight path putting NZ801 into the top of Mt Erebus. That might not be so critical for military…
Second, performance degradation as outlined by James can be overcome provided that the transfer of data base to a/craft can be satisfactorily inoculated.
Third, how many commercial operators might be at risk of similar infection and even worse consequences?
Finally, the comment about terrorists is right on the mark. As for “…they must be taking note…” I can believe that it is already on their list if not in place for future activation. How might that be? Ask any of the really bright teenagers who monkey around in these dark recesses.
February 8th, 2009 at 9:52 pm
Jesus, this is not about running anti-virus software, it’s about running critical systems so that they’re not vulnerable to a virus in the first place.
What in hell is the military doing running critical applications on Microsoft Windows? Has anybody bothered asking that question?
Do the avionics systems run Windows on an Airbus or a Boeing 777, let alone a military fighter jet? No. So why is the flight planning system using SQL Server and Windows?
It’s ridiculous. Even armies and air forces are being vendorized. Shameful.
February 9th, 2009 at 1:23 am
Both UK Navy ships and the UK stockmarket had total failures after ‘upgrading’ from unix based OS to Windows.
Windows is not worth the risk where money or life is involved.
February 9th, 2009 at 9:10 am
This sounds unhealthy for French Navy fighters. Especially when they are out in the field and suddenly encountered problems due to the computer virus that has infected their system. Sounds really bad…
February 9th, 2009 at 1:28 pm
James has some very good points about the problem with anti-virus programs. I was actually making those point in a bit of a jest and left it as “or something.”
I have no idea what that “something” is and the scary part is that the French military doesn’t appear to know either.
The other commenters make some great points too.
The entire matter is downright scary. It shows how dependent we are on fragile technologies for our well-being and security.