nanog mailing list archives

Re: AS11296 -- Hijacked?


From: William Herrin <bill () herrin us>
Date: Fri, 1 Oct 2010 17:50:28 -0400

On Fri, Oct 1, 2010 at 5:31 PM, George Bonser <gbonser () seven com> wrote:
Quite possible if one is using it to distribute a virus. RE: Spanair
flight JK-5022

http://www.monstersandcritics.com/news/europe/news/article_1578877.php/C
omputer-viruses-may-have-contributed-to-Spanish-2008-plane-crash

Hi George,

That's been debunked.

http://www.zdnet.com/blog/bott/fact-check-malware-did-not-bring-down-a-passenger-jet/2354?tag=nl.e550

"A computer at the airline’s maintenance headquarters [...] was
infected with some sort of malware. [...] That same computer is used
to record incident reports submitted by mechanics and is programmed to
raise an alarm if the same problem occurs three times on the same
aircraft.

On the day of the crash, the plane returned to the gate after the crew
noticed a problem. The mechanics at the airport identified the issue
and cleared the plane for takeoff. They apparently didn’t know that
this was the third report of a similar problem in a two-day period.
But even if the headquarters office had maintained its PC perfectly,
the plane would still have taken off. The mechanics were still
entering their report at the time of the crash."

Regards,
Bill Herrin


-- 
William D. Herrin ................ herrin () dirtside com  bill () herrin us
3005 Crane Dr. ...................... Web: <http://bill.herrin.us/>
Falls Church, VA 22042-3004


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