Miriani

The Truth About The CPU Nanovirus - Interdictors Obsolete?!

Sources have confirmed today that Maria Steinbock and Joseph Crim have been arrested on charges of computer tampering. Steinbock and Crim, computer specialist at the Hale Institute of Computer Sciences, were working on a project designed to counteract the interdiction technology commonly put into use today. Sources within the Hale Collective state that the project was supposed to be purely theoretical and that there were no plans to put any knowledge gained through the program into practical use. Skeptics disagree.

The project got pressed into practical application two weeks ago when Steinbock and Crim, using advancements in nanotechnology, fashioned something of a computer virus. The nanobots were programmed to upload a new set of operating instructions into the firmware of most commercial wormhole drives. The nanobots would then replicate themselves using trace amounts of materials from the starship's hull and spread to any ships that the "mothership" came into contact with. This ingenious method of distribution allowed them to update the software of nearly every starship in known space, completely bypassing computer defenses in the process.

The Interstellar Shipbuilding Corporation declined to comment on the lack of security in their computer systems what would be done to improve it. One representative had this to say: "While we don't agree with their methods, it would be a shame for this work to go to waste. We're going to study it and, if it checks out, begin pushing it out as a correlative update to all starships. In the meantime, we have decided to introduce a new starship that we've been working on for some time. It seems only appropriate, given the circumstances. All pilots with the required licensing points will now be able to purchase the post-experimental variant of the one-person interdictor from any of our ship stores."

Critics claim that this is a ploy by the ISC to seize control of the extremely profitable interdiction market. Stocks for ProxiCorp, the primary supplier of both interdictors and proximity weapons, have fallen drastically, calling into question whether or not the company will be able to carry on after such a devastating blow.

The Commonwealth was quick to announce the establishment of a recycling facility for interdictors on the planet Tempur. Commonwealth workers there will unload interdictors from a starship and recycle them into components that can be used to build new ships, compensating the pilot appropriately for their trouble.

Dated: 12/08/2355