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Computer Virus Travels Into Orbit, Lands on the Space Station

A computer virus in space has infected laptops aboard the International Space Station, causing concern over security measures.

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A pesky computer virus that has popped up on computers around the world has now made the leap into space. NASA announced yesterday that several laptops on board the International Space Station were infected with the virus in July, and also admitted that such infections have happened before.

"This is not the first time we have had a worm or a virus," NASA spokesman Kelly Humphries said. "It's not a frequent occurrence, but this isn't the first time." ... NASA downplayed the news, calling the virus mainly a "nuisance" that was on non-critical space station laptops used for things like e-mail and nutritional experiments [Wired News].

The virus was identified as W32.Gammima.AG,

a worm virus that was first detected in August 2007. It copies itself onto computers in order to steal log-on information - including usernames and passwords - for online games. The virus then attempts to send the information ...

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