Computer virus hits space station

Nasa's ISS has received the Gammima.AG. virus

A computer virus has made it onto the International Space Station (ISS), but Nasa says there is no danger to critical systems.

Nasa has confirmed that a computer on the ISS has been infected by the Gammima.AG. virus, which tries to steal login names and passwords to popular online games like Maple Story, HuangYi Online and Talesweaver.

It is not yet known how the virus got on board, but the likely culprit is a USB drive taken up by one of the astronauts. All data traffic streamed direct to the station comes from Nasa uplink stations and is heavily screened before being sent into orbit.

No critical systems have been infected according to the space agency and measures are being taken to expunge the malware from on-board systems.

This is not the first time viruses have made it into orbit Nasa confirmed. In the past astronaut laptops have been taken up that have found to be infected but at no time were lives put at risk.

Nasa now plans to beef up the security systems on the ISS to prevent such issues recurring.