Context
Media reports indicate that the US military’s unmanned drones, the Predator and Reaper, have been infected by key logging virus. Rob Densmore, a former US navy airman told Al Jazeera that the infection was a common keystroke logging virus – which registers the keystrokes pilots use to control the unmanned drones from afar. It is feared that the virus can potentially allow hackers to gain access into the system. Officials are still figuring out how the systems at Creech Air Force Base in Nevada became infected. The drones despite the virus are continuing to fly in overseas missions, although military drone units at other US Air Force bases have been instructed to stop. The virus despite multiple efforts has not yet been removed from the main base system.
The US flies close to 60 unmanned drones in its international missions.
