Cylon computer virus

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Revision as of 18:54, 15 May 2007 by Spencerian (talk | contribs) (Updated.)
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.
For other uses of the term, see Virus.

Consistent with their cybernetic nature, the Cylons use viruses to infect Colonial computers to force malfunctions that 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, to which Galactica belongs to, 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 on the original battlestars as a last-ditch communications measure.

In the Second Cylon War, the Cylons use a slightly different means of electronic infiltration, after their espionage determined that Colonial use of computer technology has become widespread once again, 40 years after the first war. However, instead of using viruses, backdoors are planted in the Command Navigation Program, the operating system used by the Colonial military, by a human-looking agent. These exploits make it possible to remotely shut down all computers on Colonial warships, without a possibly lengthy period of time to bypass a computer's defenses (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).

The purge appears successful 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).