Ironically, the Welchia virus crept into the State Department’s computer system just as the CCIA put out a report chiding the U.S. government for relying too much on Microsoft software — creating a tech “monoculture” that makes the government vulnerable to hackers. A U.S. State Department’s computer system used to issue visas was shut down for more than nine hours over a two-day period this week by the Welchia virus, a relative of the Blaster worm that exploited a flaw in Microsoft’s operating system and swept through corporate networks this summer. The government system, called “Consular Lookout and Support System,” or CLASS, contains unclassified data amassed from FBI, State Department and U.S. Immigration agencies — including the names of 78,000 suspected terrorists. State Department officials said that Welchia did not impact any of the data and that its classified network was not affected. Full Story
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