The National Aeronautics and Space Administration confirmed the news about the computer virus found on the International Space Station (ISS), identified as Gammima.AG. At first, the scientists were rather confused, wondering how the virus managed to get into the system.

The situation is being handled without any panic, as this isn't their first space virus. "This is not the first time we have had a worm or a virus," said NASA spokesman Kelly Humphries during a press conference. "It's not a frequent occurrence, but this isn't the first time."

Apparently, the bug was transmitted through the laptops carried by the astronauts, either through an initial software load or transfer from a personal compact flash card. The devices should have been carefully scanned before launch in order to make sure that such incidents are avoided. Luckily, NASA’s scientists reached the conclusion that none of the control systems or any of the commands are at risk, as the virus, first detected on Earth in August 2007, was developed to steal login names for the following popular online games: Talesweaver; Maple Story; Seal Online; R2 (Reign of Revolution); ROHAN; ZhengTu; Wanmi Shijie or Perfect World; Dekaron Siwan Mojie; HuangYi Online; and Rexue Jianghu. The systems affected are: Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows 2000, Windows Me, Windows NT, Windows Server 2003 and Windows XP.

"We continually refine and update our procedures and do our best to protect the systems on the station," Humphries said. She also added that security would be tightened up. "Our Expedition 17 crew on the station is working with flight control and engineering teams and with our international partners to identify and eradicate the virus that's on board and we'll look for any actions we can take to prevent that from happening again." These updated security measures are highly demanded as so far there have been several such incidents reported, and there is also the possibility that not all of these little mishaps are detailed in the news papers.

The laptops were transported to the ISS to run nutritional programs and permit astronauts to stay in touch with their co-workers and family through e-mails. Reportedly, there were no anti-virus software installed that could have identified the infection. Even though the ISS is not directly connected to the Internet, there is a system which enables astronauts to access their e-mail. For this procedure, NASA uses a KU band data link, also used for data and video transfer.

"Everything is scanned before it goes up, so it's an indirect connection," Humphries explained. When asked about the connections between these laptops and the mission’s critical systems, the spokeswoman’s answer did not clear the issue: "I don't know and even if I did, I wouldn't be able to tell you for IT security reasons," she concluded.

The Expedition 17 crew, which is currently on board on the International Space Station consists of flight commander Sergei Volkov; flight engineer Oleg Kononenko; and also flight engineer Gregory Chamitoff. The crew began its mission on the ISS on April 8.