A computer virus has disrupted communications within a major network of military importance. This time the victim  was the Royal Navy. It was confirmed just over a week ago that the communications network – email and web servers included – aboard some of its warships of the Royal Navy were disrupted because of a virus.

The Ministry of Defence said that a “a small number” of MoD systems had been affected by the disruption caused by the computer virus. There were reports that the virus had affected up to seventy-five percent of the Royal Navy’s fleet.

The MoD said that no classified or personal data had been compromised and that the virus had been contained and insisted that weapons and navigational systems had not been affected.

It was reported that the Navy computers infected were the NavyStar system. These computers are designed, built and supplied by Fujitsu. Fujitsu designed and built the PCs using normal commercial components but packaged them as smaller and more ruggedized for rough weather conditions encountered by the Royal Navy.

The PCs are used for purposes such as storekeeping, email and similar support functions. NavyStar ship nets connect to wider networks by shore connection when ships are docked and use satellite communications when at sea. They are designed to meet strict emissions certification to avoid interference with other systems.

The HMS “Ark Royal” carrier was one of the warships reported to have suffered an  outage caused by the virus infection. A major impact was the loss of email service.

An MoD spokesperson released the following statement:

“Since 6 Jan ’09 the performance of the MOD IT systems in a number of areas was affected by a virus. Immediate action was taken to isolate the problem to stop the virus from spreading. This meant that some people were without regular IT access (i.e. email, internet). There have been no infections detected on any networks with sensitive information.”

“A solution to prevent re-infection has been tested and implemented. The majority of systems are working normally. This is an ongoing process which we are working urgently on so for those people who are still offline normal business will resume as quickly as possible.”

No details were given about the specific virus, transmission methods, or countermeasures taken to clean up the infected systems and protect them from further infection.