London: International Space Station`s computers have been attacked by `virus epidemic` after Russian cosmonauts carried USB storage devices infected with malware onboard.
Security expert Eugene Kaspersky, head of security firm Kaspersky labs, revealed that this happened before the ISS switched from Windows XP to Linux computers.
Kaspersky said that virus infected the space-based computers, including dozens of laptops and the damage done by them to the computer systems onboard is unknown.
The Windows XP-based laptops on the ISS had gotten infected with a virus called W32.Gammima.AG in 2008, after a cosmonaut took virus infected laptop aboard.
A NASA spokesperson said that though this doesn`t happen frequently, it`s not the first time that it`s happened.
