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"As these systems are based on Linux, they are open to infection." Edit: This part seems to have been removed.
by dinosaurs 13y ago
"As these systems are based on Linux, they are open to infection."
Edit: This part seems to have been removed.
- Zikes 13y agoWill these rocket scientists ever learn?!
- timje1 13y agoWell it's not exactly brain surgery, is it?
- lesterbuck 13y agoRocket Surgery Made Easy http://www.amazon.com/Rocket-Surgery-Made-Easy-Do-It-Yourself/dp/0321657292 http://www.amazon.com/Rocket-Surgery-Made-Easy-Do-It-Yoursel...
- AdamTReineke 13y agoYup, that's where I stopped reading.
- TallGuyShort 13y agoI can see why people would assume that open source is a big security risk, but how deep does your head have to be buried in sand for you to think that Windows (which, AFAIK, is the only other OS often used in large government systems like this) has not been open to infection?
- freehunter 13y agoWho says that Windows is not open to infection? All that was stated is that Linux is open to infection. There's no implication that using another popular OS would have been a better choice.
- AmVess 13y agoWell if they used Windows, at least we'd occasionally get free ISS parts showing up in our backyards. FTR: I'm a Windows user.
- TallGuyShort 13y agoAgreed, but it was still quite disingenuous of them to say that Linux was the specific reason they were open to infection. The fact that the space station has computers and ways to connect to those computers means there's a chance of infection.
- freehunter 13y agoViruses are harder to implement on custom software, though. Perhaps the ISS should have used a custom OS to protect against malware? Popular off-the-shelf software is going to be targeted before an in-house and not-publicly-documented piece of software.
- hrkristian 13y agoBuilding an OS from the ground up would take a lot of money and manpower, and NASA aren't exactly rolling in cash nowadays. And while yes, in-house software would be safe against most existing malware, and general malware, ISS would not be safe from direct attacks. Those are the real threat anyway...
- freehunter 13y agoVxWorks is pretty popular with space agencies (NASA uses it, as well as SpaceX. Curiosity and Dragon both run VxWorks RTOS). It has a 64-bit mode for Intel processors, runs on HRFS, DOSFS, and NFS, has IPv6 built in, and is POSIX compliant. While direct attacks are a real threat, I don't see anywhere saying this was a direct attack. Not using an off-the-shelf OS could have mitigated the attack if it wasn't a direct attack.
- tmerr 13y agoI don't see what the fuss is all about. They are open to infection. They're built on linux, rather than an entirely custom system. So they're vulnerable to existing malware floating around.
- jlgreco 13y agoCustom systems would also be "open to infection". It just probably wouldn't be very likely. It is very difficult to not read a strong implication into that line. If nothing else, then the line is useless and states nothing at all.
- BuildTheRobots 13y agounless FireFox Search is failing me, it looks like that quote has been removed.
- eli 13y agoI don't think he meant to imply that Linux is more open to infection than other popular operating systems.
- deleted 13y ago[deleted]
- skarip 13y agoI think the implication is that had they been built on an internally built OS(es) they would have not been open to infections already existent, not that Linux is more prone to infections than alternative OSes.