Malware may have contributed to airline crash

Check this out. Turns out (according to a story in El Pais) that the crash of a Spanish airliner may have been partially caused because of the plane being riddled with trojans and malware.  Or the warning system was anyway.

Apparently, the mechanics (now up on manslaughter charges) weren’t doing their job either, which doesn’t help contribute to the overall “safety factor” much.  But the (numerous) problems with the plane would have been caught by the safety warning system – except it was too busy participating in a botnet, downloading pr0nz, or otherwise doing what rootkit-infected machines usually do.

So, no good for the malware infected plane.  Maybe I’ll ask the flight attendant next time I get on the plane for a copy of the onboard virus scanner output before getting on board.  Of course, given the conditions on most domestic flights nowadays, they’ll probably start charging passengers more for the “malware-free” travel option.