Malware Infects Nearly 75% of Systems at Base in Afghanistan

I’m sure most of you heard about the military banning the use of USB drives and other removable media earlier this month. The reason for the ban is just coming to light and the LA Times has the scoop: a malware outbreak at the largest US military base in Afghanistan that affected almost 75% of the systems there.

The invasive software, known as agent.btz, has circulated among nongovernmental U.S. computers for months. But only recently has it affected the Pentagon's networks. …The malware is able to spread to any flash drive plugged into an infected computer. The risk of spreading the malware to other networks prompted the military to ban the drives.

Good job. Just wonderful. Glad to see our national security is in good hands.

This would have been simple to prevent. Too bad most people just "don't give a shit."

Originally Posted by thewooster

Good job. Just wonderful. Glad to see our national security is in good hands.

Umm, they completely banned the use of flash media to stop this virus from spreading. What more can they do? Tell everyone to turn their computers off for the next month?

Well we never look towards the military for intelligence, just muscle. It's just another example of our country mis-using technology because of one reason, stupidity and ignorance.

Originally Posted by XamediX

Well we never look towards the military for intelligence, just muscle. It's just another example of our country mis-using technology because of one reason, stupidity and ignorance.

Wouldn't stupidity and ignorance count as TWO reasons?

Couldn't this have been prevented by disabling auto-run?

Originally Posted by Spiritual Machine

Couldn't this have been prevented by disabling auto-run?

Probably but disabling Windows might be safer

The question I have is why went removable devices banned outright from day one?

Originally Posted by Jester1550

Wouldn't stupidity and ignorance count as TWO reasons?

ROFL

Too much porn.

Originally Posted by HOCP4ME

Umm, they completely banned the use of flash media to stop this virus from spreading. What more can they do? Tell everyone to turn their computers off for the next month?

Its not like they werent already aware of the problem but through stupidity/ignorance they let it spread further.

They should have a virus scanning machine that is used to scan memory devices before they leave a location and/or on entry to a different location.
If they even performed a virus scan after copying files using the same PC, that might sort it.

They could keep their AV systems up to date so the virus is trapped on the target system.

As pointed out, Autorun should be disabled.
What are they doing with that enabled on military computer systems anyway?
Simply laziness/complacency on the part of IT, they should know better.

Autorun doesn't prevent people from inserting the drive, then double clicking the exe.

Disabling executable from the flash drive would have been more appropriate... Harder on windows than said.

I would have thought the security risk of making sensitive information portable would have put a stop to this long before an infection took hold.

The US Government has been sitting on it's ASS for years now concerning Spyware and Viruses. No laws have any teeth, what few laws there are.

Just look at this asshat in Texas spreading all the zLob's out there. A case where they KNOW who it is and KNOW what he's doing (some call it extortion, others call it fraud).

And yet this guy is still in business, infecting millions of machines constantly.

We need a simple "Computer Security Circumvention Act". It basically says if you infect another computer maliciously, you go to jail. Period. No fines. Directly to Jail.

Oh, and upon release from Jail, they are not allowed to use a computer or internet enabled device for 10 years. They can flip burgers for a living.

Can't believe nobody said it yet!!!!!
It's the Decepticons people!!!! Decepticons are coming...!!!!!

Nah, it was first infecting non-military computers. So it wasn't a problem they had to really address until now.

As for security, it's an interesting rule. This would also limit the flow of information leaving the bases, in the form of incriminating pictures.

Originally Posted by thewooster

Good job. Just wonderful. Glad to see our national security is in good hands.

I haven't seen private computers on bases contain sensitive national security items... but I could be wrong...

Great. Atleast I know what to expect when soldiers come back from deployment.

the government is letting contractors ELECTROCUTE our soldiers trying to take showers and they dont give a shit, you think they care about malware?