VISIT Virus

Wired News reported this week that a computer virus known as Zotob crippled the Customs and Border Protection’s US VISIT screening system in August 2005, one week after a patch was released to block the virus. The virus caused significant system failures at several U.S. airports, including those in Los Angeles, New York and Dallas, and resulted in long lines at checkpoints. Wired did not come by this information easily. Only after the publication filed a Freedom of Information Act request and then a lawsuit (that is ongoing) did the agency release a heavily redacted six page document on the incident as well as an inspector general's report concluding that the system was “generally secure,” but vulnerabilities existed that “could compromise” its data.--Daniel Pulliam