Cylon computer virus

This article discusses the Cylons of the Re-imagined Series and their cybernetic assaults. The Original Series version of the Cylons do not exhibit this behavior in an aired episode.

Consistent with their cybernetic nature, the Cylons used viruses to infect Colonial computers to force malfunctions that would render a Colonial ship vulnerable to attack.

The virus infiltration tactic was used greatly in the first Cylon War. In response, the Colonials began using simpler technologies that were impossible to reprogram or shut down. The first battlestars, of which Galactica is a member, used computers but didn't network them or tie them to external sensors or communications, preventing a virus from entering ship's systems and minimizing damage to other systems in the event of an infection. Comparatively primitive communications gear and other hardware throughout the ships also reduced or eliminated the ability of the Cylons to hack into or shut down a shipboard function. In the case of total power loss, the Colonials also installed sound-powered phones in the original battlestars as a last-ditch communications measure.

In the Second Cylon War, the Cylons return to their tactic of infiltration after their espionage determined that Colonial use of computer technology has become widespread once again, 40 years after the first war.

While the Colonial computers are likely resistant to viral infection because they could not be cracked from the outside, the Cylons used a human-form agent to plant backdoors in the Command Navigation Program used by almost all Colonial military vessels. With this alternate access path into the operating system, the attacking Cylon fleet could send commands or viruses to the CNP to shut down or disable key elements of itself or ship systems. In a sense, instead of trying to break down the Colonials' "door" with a thug (a virus), the Cylons simply changed the door's locks so they could enter by an easier path.

The compromised CNP permits the easy destruction of Colonial defenses and slaughter of countless billions of Colonial citizens living on the Twelve Colonies.

Despite the efforts of decommissioning Galactica and converting it into a museum, the battlestar is still able to withstand this tactic as this new Cylon war begins. While her last squadron of Viper Mark VIIs are infected and destroyed early in the initial attack, a squadron of Mark IIs aboard are deployed. Like their carrier ship, these old-era Vipers were also designed to ward off a Cylon infection or backdoor exploits by using relatively primitive or analog technology, and are thus resistant to Cylon computer attacks (Miniseries).

Later, Galactica suffers a Cylon virus infection near the legendary planet of Kobol after doing what Commander William Adama (at the time, seriously wounded in an assassination attempt) would never allow: The temporary networking of several of the battlestar's computers to greatly reduce the computation time needed to find the proper coordinates of the missing civilian Fleet, which jumped to a different set of coordinates (Scattered). Improvised software firewalls (software barriers that deny unauthorized intrusion) are put in place by Lieutenant Gaeta in order to slow down a Cylon hacking attack, but the protection loses its integrity at the very last moment. After the virus initially shuts down several systems (while, coincidentally, a squad of heavily-armored Cylon Centurions board Galactica), the battlestar uses software or other means to purge the virus (Valley of Darkness).

All appeared successful with the purge until weeks later when the virus returns, this time as a heuristic infection that formed itself as a "logic bomb", threatening to deny control of the battlestar to its human crew and likely forcing the battlestar's guns on the civilian Fleet and activating the damage control systems to open vents to asphyxiate the crew. The virus is finally removed for good by wiping the hard drives of all computers and restoring them from backups made prior to the Cylon attack (Flight of the Phoenix).