A persistent keylogger virus has infiltrated the US military drone network-Drones have become the tip of the spear as the US fights militants in the most remote corners on Earth - a science fiction weapon in the most primitive battlegrounds. However, a mysterious computer virus has infected the US fleet of robotic trackers and killers, raising fears that someone, no one yet knows who, could be fighting back.
The US military said the virus had not caused any of the unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to crash and the Predators and Reapers are still flying missions such as the airstrike over Yemen more than a week ago that killed the leading US-born al-Qaeda propagandist Anwar al-Awlaki.
Technology experts at the Pentagon have been unable to eliminate the virus, according to Wired magazine, which reported the infection.
"We keep wiping it off, and it keeps coming back," a source told the technology magazine. "We think it's benign. But we just don't know."
Earlier this year, Iran said that its nuclear program had suffered a serious setback after being infected with the Stuxnet virus, believed to have been created by the US and Israel to sabotage its uranium-enrichment centrifuges.
With drones now at the forefront of modern warfare - more US pilots are being trained to fly the remotely controlled planes than to fly fighters or bombers - that the unidentified virus is logging every keystroke of their missions is a serious concern.
The drones, which can provide a constant "eye in the sky" over unsuspecting targets from Islamist terrorist to Somali pirates, have been compromised before. Two years ago, US forces in Iraq discovered that insurgents there had used a $26 item of computer software to hack into the unencrypted video footage they were sending back to their controllers.
The US military is believed to have about 7,000 drones. They are light and easy to transport, there is no risk of losing a pilot's life and they can stay in the air for long periods and over vast distances. They are also relatively cheap. In Pakistan, drones are believed to have killed more than 2,000 suspected militants and civilians in areas close to the Afghan border where not even the Pakistani military dares to send troops. In Yemen, the scene of the first US drone strike in 2002, they have been effective after leading Muslim clerics threatened to declare a jihad if foreign troops were deployed on their soil.
Since al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsular came close to blowing up a US airliner on Christmas Day 2009, the US military has stepped up its drone operations in the area from new bases built in secret locations, one of which analysts say may be on Socotra, an island between Yemen and Somalia that is renowned for its rare flora and fauna.
The "keylogger" virus records the commands entered by the remote pilots to direct the drones. Military analysts say it is possible the infection may have been a common virus accidentally introduced.
Most drones are controlled from Creech Air Force base in Nevada by pilots watching computer screens thousands of miles from the combat zone.
Often the drones are undetectable to their targets who are only aware they are being tracked when a Hellfire missile strikes.
The US military said the virus had not caused any of the unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to crash and the Predators and Reapers are still flying missions such as the airstrike over Yemen more than a week ago that killed the leading US-born al-Qaeda propagandist Anwar al-Awlaki.
Technology experts at the Pentagon have been unable to eliminate the virus, according to Wired magazine, which reported the infection.
"We keep wiping it off, and it keeps coming back," a source told the technology magazine. "We think it's benign. But we just don't know."
Earlier this year, Iran said that its nuclear program had suffered a serious setback after being infected with the Stuxnet virus, believed to have been created by the US and Israel to sabotage its uranium-enrichment centrifuges.
With drones now at the forefront of modern warfare - more US pilots are being trained to fly the remotely controlled planes than to fly fighters or bombers - that the unidentified virus is logging every keystroke of their missions is a serious concern.
The drones, which can provide a constant "eye in the sky" over unsuspecting targets from Islamist terrorist to Somali pirates, have been compromised before. Two years ago, US forces in Iraq discovered that insurgents there had used a $26 item of computer software to hack into the unencrypted video footage they were sending back to their controllers.
The US military is believed to have about 7,000 drones. They are light and easy to transport, there is no risk of losing a pilot's life and they can stay in the air for long periods and over vast distances. They are also relatively cheap. In Pakistan, drones are believed to have killed more than 2,000 suspected militants and civilians in areas close to the Afghan border where not even the Pakistani military dares to send troops. In Yemen, the scene of the first US drone strike in 2002, they have been effective after leading Muslim clerics threatened to declare a jihad if foreign troops were deployed on their soil.
Since al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsular came close to blowing up a US airliner on Christmas Day 2009, the US military has stepped up its drone operations in the area from new bases built in secret locations, one of which analysts say may be on Socotra, an island between Yemen and Somalia that is renowned for its rare flora and fauna.
The "keylogger" virus records the commands entered by the remote pilots to direct the drones. Military analysts say it is possible the infection may have been a common virus accidentally introduced.
Most drones are controlled from Creech Air Force base in Nevada by pilots watching computer screens thousands of miles from the combat zone.
Often the drones are undetectable to their targets who are only aware they are being tracked when a Hellfire missile strikes.
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