The Drones Are Sick

What happens when the largest and most powerful military force on the planet finds a computer virus in its fleet of unmanned aerial drones? Soon we may find out the answer.

As you probably know, unmanned aerial vehicles have become one of the biggest targets for critics of the United States' ongoing operations in Iraq, Afghanistan, Yemen and Pakistan. But despite being responsible for the deaths of civilians and anger in the Middle East and Pakistan especially – a former CIA chief admits that they're doing nothing but bringing anti-American sentiment to a boil – drone usage is undergoing an immense surge.

The virus hiding inside the drone fleet's control systems was detected last week, in unnerving proximity to America's drone-based assassination of radical Muslim cleric (and American citizen) Anwar al-Awlaki in Yemen. "We keep wiping it off, and it keeps coming back," one source told Wired's Danger Room. "We think it's benign. But we just don't know."

Aside from the fact that it installs keyloggers — those sneaky little scripts that record every single action taken by operators — nothing else is known about the mysterious virus, including whether it was the result of an attack by foreign powers or simply some negligent drone pilot unknowingly infecting the systems with malware after downloading porn.

The virus hasn't yet attempted to make any outbound transmissions, which could mean one of two things: Either it's a harmless run-of-the-mill virus, or, like the infamous Stuxnet worm which infected Iran's nuclear facilities, it's simply biding its time. Or, a chilling third possibility: It's some sort of test meant as a prelude to a larger, more damaging attack.

Even worse, the USAF's cybersecurity team didn't know about the virus until they read about it on Wired. The whole thing is a worrisome, "if not predictable state of affairs," according to Noel Sharkey of the International Committee for Robot Arms Control. Add this to the finding that Iraqi hackers had been capturing the unencrypted video feeds being sent by drones to their remote operators in the Nevada desert, and it doesn't sound very much like formidable information warfare.

Whatever symbolism we can read into the infection in regards to America's standing in the cyber defense race, the whole incident serves up a chilling reminder that we live at a time when wars are being waged by remote control, and that inflicting damage (of all unimaginable kinds) is now as simple as pressing a button, or easier.

• The Bad Omen of America's Falling Drone Syndrome
• Former CIA Drone Chief Says Drones Are Backfiring
• How Ralph Langner Cracked The Stuxnet Worm