Ok, the headline is a little misleading. But it’s still a bit worrying that NASA has found a computer virus on the space station.

Astronauts onboard the International Space Station are now running anti-virus software on their systems, following last week’s detection of an unwanted computer-guest.

According to Space.ref a ‘W32.Gammima.AG worm’ was detected on the ISS. The website quotes a terse NASA status update thus:

Virus was never a threat to any of the computers used for cmd and cntl and no adverse effect on ISS Ops. Theory is virus either in initial software load or possibly transferred from personal compact flash card.

According to anti-virus software manufacturer Symantec this is a ‘very low’ threat virus that steals information regarding an online game. It’s still a bit worrying that computers on the ISS aren’t set up to deal with these problems though.

For some reason this puts me in mind of this cartoon.

Image: NASA