Remember that scene in Independence Day when Jeff Goldblum’s character suggests the U.S. upload a computer virus to the alien mothership in order to take it out? It’s one of Hollywood’s greatest moments, obviouslly. Well, it turns out that something along those lines has just happened, minus Will Smith, invading aliens, and exploding skyscrapers.
There’s a computer virus, Gammima.AG, aboard the International Space Station! NASA confirms as much, and has said that it—it’s technically a worm—has been roaming around the station since August, 2007. The worm, in truly dumb fashion, attempts to steal login info for games including Rohan and R2 Reign of Revolution. These games are popular in the Far East, claims the BBC.
It’s not known how the virus made it onboard the ISS in the first place, especially since all traffic between the ISS and Earth is sniffed.
And no, no vital ISS operations are endangered because of the worm’s presence; it’s just annoying.