Frogs gotta virus


French fighter planes were unable to take off after military computers
were infected by a computer virus, an intelligence magazine claims.
by Kim Willsher in Paris
Last Updated: 9:52PM GMT 07 Feb 2009
French fighter jets were unable to take off after military computers
were attacked by a virus Photo: AFP
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.
The French newspaper Ouest France said the virus had hit the internal
computer network at the French Navy.
Jérome Erulin, French navy spokesman told the paper: "It affected
exchanges of information but no information was lost. It was a
security problem we had already simulated. We cut the communication
links that could have transmitted the virus and 99 per cent of the
network is safe."
However, the French navy admitted that during the time it took to
eradicate the virus, it had to return to more traditional forms of
communication: telephone, fax and post.
Naval officials said the "infection"' 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.

The Sicmar Network, on which the most sensitive documents and
communications are transmitted was not touched, it said. "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 plans". The
aircraft were eventually activated by "another system".
Liberation also reported that Microsoft had identified the Conficker
virus in the autumn of 2008 and had advised users from October last
year to update their security patches. IntelligenceOnline reports that
"at the heart of the (French) military, the modifications were, for
the most part, not done." It was only on the 16 January "three months
later" that the navy chiefs of staffs began to act.
"At that point, the chiefs of staff and the defence ministry had no
idea how many computers or military information systems were
vulnerable to having been contaminated by the virus," said Liberation.
The part that says:

Liberation also reported that Microsoft had identified the Conficker
virus in the autumn of 2008 and had advised users from October last
year to update their security patches. IntelligenceOnline reports that
"at the heart of the (French) military, the modifications were, for
the most part, not done." It was only on the 16 January "three months
later" that the navy chiefs of staffs began to act.

is particularly educational.

Apparently good sense is not a Frog attribute.


Cheers,

Schweik
.

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