A deadly plane crash in Madrid two years ago could have been averted by a computer warning system, but it was too clogged with malware, according to a report.

An investigation into the crash of flight JK5022 - which killed 154 people in August 2008 - has suggested the airline's computer was riddled with trojans, according to a report in the Spanish El Pais newspaper.

Normally, the computer system would alert airline staff if the plane was suffering the type of technical problem that lead to the crash - which looks to have been that the flaps and slats on the wings failed to move into the right position for takeoff.

However, trojans in the system may have slowed it down so no alert was sounded and the issues weren't noted in time for take-off.

While ground staff or the plane's internal staff could also have potentially seen the problem with the flaps, had the computers been functioning properly, disaster may have been averted, the report said.

A judge has now directed the airline to hand over computer data from before the crash to investigators.

http://www.pcpro.co.uk/news/security/36 ... lane-crash

That's quite an accusation

Why would you ever, ever, ever, EVER let a computer that controls safety systems be exposed to external input in such a way that could compromise it like this?

That seems too obvious to be needed to be stated.

The plane wasn't infected. The computer in the hangar, where the repairs are registered was infected and was so slow that it didn't set display a warning, that the plane had already had 3 temperature warnings in the last couple of flights.

As a result, the circuit breaker for the temperature warnings had been pulled, on the plane, which, allegedly, also happened to have the warning cicuit for the flaps...

That still does not excuse the fact that the computer was infected and it was not maintained properly. If there were issues about its performance replace it.

True, but it is very different to the plane systems being infected. It is a much less spectacular revelation, the machine needs to be networked, because it needs to talk to head office to order the parts...

The plane was so old, that it uses its own computer systems, not generic Windows - the plane pre-dated Microsoft!