Investigators have found that it is likely that the fatal crash of Spanair Flight 5022 in 2008 was caused by a malware infection. It was determined that central computer system that monitors the aircraft systems for malfunctions was infected by a Trojan Horse. This infection evidently interfered with the ability of the computer system to flag an unsafe takeoff configuration, and the aircraft crashed seconds after becoming airborn.

The exact source of the infection has not been determined, but the investigation continues, and hopefully it will be pinpointed.   Investigators believe that the infection may have entered through a USB port or a VPN connection.

Aircraft rely more and more on computers and these critical systems need to be hardened against infection, and procedures need to be established and followed to insure that malware never has a chance to infect any such system.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/38790670/ns/technology_and_science-security