Trojan-Ridden Warning System Implicated in Spanair Crash

CommanderFrank

CommanderFrank

Cat Can't Scratch It
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Authorities are looking into the possibility that malware could have been the probable cause for a plane crash 2 years ago, killing 154 people aboard.

The airline's central computer which registered technical problems on planes was infected by Trojans at the time of the fatal crash and this resulted in a failure to raise an alarm over multiple problems with the plane, according to Spanish daily El Pais
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This pisses me off. I always wondered what a hacker gets out of hacking everything they come across. It seems people will try and infect anything these days... even mobile phones like Android devices. It's such a stupid thing to waste your time on doing this dumb shit.
 
zamardii said:
This pisses me off. I always wondered what a hacker gets out of hacking everything they come across. It seems people will try and infect anything these days... even mobile phones like Android devices. It's such a stupid thing to waste your time on doing this dumb shit.
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One could say the same thing about watching sports, playing video games, target practice, and almost any other hobby.
 
If only this occurrence could spur new laws and consequences for creating this malware crap. I personally would love to see everyone who engages in creating such software strapped into an electric chair and progressively roasted into a crisp.
 
Tokamak said:
One could say the same thing about watching sports, playing video games, target practice, and almost any other hobby.
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Yes, but all of those things don't cause people to lose their data, personal information, credit cards, etc. Its completely different, and hackers in general are wastes of organic chemistry, unless they are being thrown into fires as fuel.
 
zamardii said:
This pisses me off. I always wondered what a hacker gets out of hacking everything they come across. It seems people will try and infect anything these days... even mobile phones like Android devices. It's such a stupid thing to waste your time on doing this dumb shit.
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I doesn't necessarily have to have been actively hacked for this to have happened.This could have been caused by an employee using the system, or a networked workstation to surf on company time - gaining the infection in the process. There's a lot they need to investigate here.
 
Dethred said:
Yes, but all of those things don't cause people to lose their data, personal information, credit cards, etc. Its completely different, and hackers in general are wastes of organic chemistry, unless they are being thrown into fires as fuel.
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Those that use their hobby to hurt others are the ones you're talking about. Just the same as those that target practice using humans as targets or people who riot after a sports event.
 
A lot of people are friggin idiots when it comes to malware. The effected system was probably connected to the internet and a buncha dumbasses probably used it for stupid shit they shouldn't have been doing at work. I doubt it was hacked, I'm leaning more towards ignorant users installing crap from the net.
 
Why the hell was a mission critical computer, responsible for the aircraft's emergency warning systems, running Windows? Yes, the writer of the virus is somewhat responsible, but the airline is the one who was criminally negligent!
 
IRSmurf said:
Why the hell was a mission critical computer, responsible for the aircraft's emergency warning systems, running Windows? Yes, the writer of the virus is somewhat responsible, but the airline is the one who was criminally negligent!
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QFT. Mission critical = in-house proprietary embedded systems

I guess can't say shit though, they use XP/NT to operate parts of the ISS. Here is a cosmonaut manipulating the TORU docking system.
 
The aircraft's integral systems were not effected by the malware, you would get a takeoff config warning, (from the aircraft's own systems) if you try to takeoff with flaps/slats up.

A pilot capable of taking off with flaps/slats at 0 (in an MD-82), is going to kill people eventually, even in a world with no malware.
 
eh, I think the point is that malware might be considered somewhat harmless, when in reality it is not. it ruins the computing experience for many people, in other causes people either pay a lot of money to have it removed or alternately buy new systems. Not to mention the theft that occurs from malware, either direct via ad scams, stolen credit card numbers, or indirect by making the computer a bot.
 
Yossarian22 said:
QFT. Mission critical = in-house proprietary embedded systems
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Why the hell was a mission critical computer, responsible for the aircraft's emergency warning systems, running Windows? Yes, the writer of the virus is somewhat responsible, but the airline is the one who was criminally negligent!
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WTF? I see lots of machines that run Windows NT or even 2000 in a stand alone enviornment that never get blue screens or OS errors. They run for years without crashing. By using an established OS you get to take advantage of all the standards that it uses. You can use standard computer hardware and you can use standard programming languages. Hell we even got some old ass machines that are running Windows 3.1 and it works great for what the machine does, of course I laugh everytime I look at the hardware its running on (it takes like 20 seconds for it boot test 16MB of RAM :p )
 
Blame the employees who were clicking on random ads or downloading porn at work.

Will they switch to a Linux-based system now?
 
I'm lost... wouldn't a computer for this type of operation be kept in isolation in a way, so it can't (or rather won't) contract a virus?
 
Monkey34 said:
I doesn't necessarily have to have been actively hacked for this to have happened.This could have been caused by an employee using the system, or a networked workstation to surf on company time - gaining the infection in the process. There's a lot they need to investigate here.
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Doesn't matter how it got there, it still means malware writers have now caused the death of innocents. That makes them total scum.
 
IRSmurf said:
Why the hell was a mission critical computer, responsible for the aircraft's emergency warning systems, running Windows? Yes, the writer of the virus is somewhat responsible, but the airline is the one who was criminally negligent!
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If you read the article it does say manslaughter charges are being considered but that doesn't make the malware writer not guilty of murder.

"A mechanic who checked the plane before take-off and an airport maintenance chief are under investigation and face possible manslaughter charges. Investigating judge Juan David Perez has ordered Spanair to supply data on the state of its systems at the time of the crash. An investigation commission is due to report on the case by December."
 
mortonP said:
Doesn't matter how it got there, it still means malware writers have now caused the death of innocents. That makes them total scum.
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It does matter how it got there. If an employee compromised the system with the malware by using a terminal against policy, then they share some of the blame. That's all I was adding.
I'm not the only one to see someone using a company server to check their web-mail (among other things), so any number of stupid things (or people) may have contributed.

The malware author's blame is obvious.
 
This particular system was just used for logging issues with planes. Spanair used a system in which three warnings would ground the plane. The plane in question had two, and would have had a third registered one before it took off if it wasn't for this slow system holding up things.

Of course, the real cause of the crash was as usual pilot error. The pilot and co-pilot rushed through the checklist before take-off, set the flaps and spoilers wrong, which led to the plane nose-diving into the ground. The plane would have flown fine if it wasn't for this PEBCAC issue.
 
MajorDomo said:
Authorities are looking into the possibility that malware could have been the probable cause for a plane crash 2 years ago, killing 154 people aboard.
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Does this remind anyone else of the Movie Hackers? Except not the gibson and not oil tankers....
 
Seems to be a whole lot of missing information here; I didn't really understand how the entire article is about pilot negligence and malware, and yet somehow the mechanic is the one facing charges?
 
radioactivez0r said:
Seems to be a whole lot of missing information here; I didn't really understand how the entire article is about pilot negligence and malware, and yet somehow the mechanic is the one facing charges?
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Well, those directly responsible for the crash (the pilots) are dead, which just leaves those who could have prevented or otherwise had an important role in limiting the extent of the damage. If this 3rd warning had been logged, the plane wouldn't have taken off. If the logging system had been maintained properly, it would have been logged. The question then is why this system wasn't maintained properly and whether it was due to negligence and if so, whose fault it was and whether disciplinary action is required.
 
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