> “We keep wiping it off, and it keeps coming back,” says a source familiar with the network infection, one of three that told Danger Room about the virus. “We think it’s benign. But we just don’t know.”
The end of the article says they asked for an official response and were stonewalled.
> The Air Force declined to comment directly on the virus. “We generally do not discuss specific vulnerabilities, threats, or responses to our computer networks, since that helps people looking to exploit or attack our systems to refine their approach,” says Lt. Col. Tadd Sholtis, a spokesman for Air Combat Command, which oversees the drones and all other Air Force tactical aircraft. “We invest a lot in protecting and monitoring our systems to counter threats and ensure security, which includes a comprehensive response to viruses, worms, and other malware we discover.”
'The military' doesn't want anyone to know; some individuals inside do.
Or the military staff is leaking this to motivate the higher-up who green-lit the contract to exert some pressure, because they have unfortunately-little direct power themselves.
I don't think that is really an 'or' case. Either someone with authority to disclose makes an official statement or someone lacking that authority leaks it.
An unauthorized leak out of a secretive program disclosing a major vulnerability? That sounds very court-martialable. Especially considering the presumably small number of people who would know about it, and hence the high probability of the leaker getting caught, I find it hard to imagine anyone would risk it, let alone what their motivation for doing so would be. And especially not three different people.
Nope, I don't think the USAF leaks anything like this unless it means to.
> “We keep wiping it off, and it keeps coming back,” says a source familiar with the network infection, one of three that told Danger Room about the virus. “We think it’s benign. But we just don’t know.”
The end of the article says they asked for an official response and were stonewalled.
> The Air Force declined to comment directly on the virus. “We generally do not discuss specific vulnerabilities, threats, or responses to our computer networks, since that helps people looking to exploit or attack our systems to refine their approach,” says Lt. Col. Tadd Sholtis, a spokesman for Air Combat Command, which oversees the drones and all other Air Force tactical aircraft. “We invest a lot in protecting and monitoring our systems to counter threats and ensure security, which includes a comprehensive response to viruses, worms, and other malware we discover.”
'The military' doesn't want anyone to know; some individuals inside do.