Computer virus invades Japan’s space agency, takes data

Japan’s space agency may have lost potentially sensitive data to a computer virus that infected one of the agency’s terminals earlier this month, Japanese officials have said. The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) discovered the malware Jan. 6 on a terminal used by an employee, according to a report on Space.com. “Information stored in the computer as well as system information that is accessible by the employee have been leaking outside. We are now confirming the leaked information and investigating the cause,” Space.com quoted JAXA as saying. According to JAXA officials, a trace showed the computer virus had gathered information from the infected machine, but it is still not sure how the virus got to the computer. Space.com said the employee whose machine was infected works on JAXA’s H-2 Transfer Vehicle, an unmanned vessel that ferries cargo to the International Space Station. Officials suspect the breach may have taken information about the robotic spacecraft and its operations, Space.com quoted JAXA officials as saying. It added the officials also suspect the virus may have taken stored email addresses and system login information accessed from the infected computer. The Space.com report said the infected computer has had other issues before. Last August, JAXA detected a different virus on the machine last August and removed it. Further monitoring of the computer showed further anomalies, leading to the virus detection on Jan. 6. JAXA also said it determined the computer “sent out some information” sometime between July 6 and Aug. 11 of 2011. “With the above backdrop, passwords for all accessible systems from the computer have been immediately changed in order to prevent any abuse of possibly leaked information, and we are currently investigating the scale of damage and the impact,” JAXA said. It added all other computer terminals are being checked for virus infections.  The Space.com report said that as early as 2008, a laptop used by astronauts aboard the International Space Station was found to be infected with a virus designed to swipe passwords from online gamers. But that malware was more a mysterious nuisance than a real problem, National Aeronautics and Space Administration officials said. — LBG, GMA News