Infected USB stick to blame for Spain's worst air disaster?

Spanish newspaper El Pais wrote last week that an infected USB flash drive may have contributed to the crash of Spainair Flight JK5022 in 2008. Initially, it was believed that a pilot error led to the jetliner's crash shortly after takeoff from Madrid's Barajas international airport, but a 12,000-page investigative report reveals that malware prevented a fail-safe monitoring system from detecting three problems, including an issue with the airplane's wing flaps being in the wrong position for takeoff.

It was initially believed that the crash of Flight 5022 that killed 154 people in 2008 was the result of pilot error, but investigators have now concluded that a computer infection spread through an infected USB stick may have contributed to the crash.

Investigators speculate that trojan malware may have slowed down system alerts at the airline's headquarters which could have canceled or delayed the doomed flight. The report indicates that the computer failed to detect three problems (including one issue with the airplane's wing flaps being in the incorrect position for takeoff) in a fail-safe monitoring system and that those problems were brought on by a malicious program that came from the USB thumb drive.

More details at DailyTech.