In the real world, I’m an Systems Administrator. And I hate it when people don’t want to update computer, or not look after their computers downloading crap by the bucketload.
Well here’s a good enough reason that comes via Graham Cluley’s Blog at Sophos (an Enterprise System Protection company), with a report that central computer system than was monitoring aircraft (though not on the aircraft itself) was riddled with Trojan horses.
It should be emphasised there was no virus or malware installed on the aircraft itself.
The Spanair Madrid air crash claimed the lives of 154 people and only 18 survivors aboard the MD-82,
According to El Pais and the blog, an internal report by the airline has revealed that a computer located at the airline’s headquarters in Palma, Mallorca, should have identified three similar technical problems with the airplane, but was suffering from a malware infection.
More worryingly, it seems that the plane should not have been allowed to take-off if the technical problems had been identified.
No comment has been made to which virus/malware package was on the computer, but it’s an extreme example of what malware can do – both to people and to damage to computers.
So when you surf online – be protected, get a decent virus checker (there are lots of good free ones out there – AVG and Avast are two that spring to mind). Enterprise users can’t go far wrong with Sophos. And Mac users don’t be complacent either – you’re moving into the firing line too.
Source: http://www.sophos.com/gc/g/2010/08/20/trojan-horse-suspected-contributing-2008-madrid-aircrash/
