-LRB- WIRED -RRB- -- A computer virus has infected the cockpits of America 's Predator and Reaper drones , logging pilots ' every keystroke as they remotely fly missions over Afghanistan and other warzones . The virus , first detected nearly two weeks ago by the military 's Host-Based Security System , has not prevented pilots at Creech Air Force Base in Nevada from flying their missions overseas . Nor have there been any confirmed incidents of classified information being lost or sent to an outside source . But the virus has resisted multiple efforts to remove it from Creech 's computers , network security specialists say . And the infection underscores the ongoing security risks in what has become the U.S. military 's most important weapons system . `` We keep wiping it off , and it keeps coming back , '' says a source familiar with the network infection , one of three that told Danger Room about the virus . `` We think it 's benign . But we just do n't know . '' Military network security specialists are n't sure whether the virus and its so-called `` keylogger '' payload were introduced intentionally or by accident ; it may be a common piece of malware that just happened to make its way into these sensitive networks . The specialists do n't know exactly how far the virus has spread . But they 're sure that the infection has hit both classified and unclassified machines at Creech . That raises the possibility , at least , that secret data may have been captured by the keylogger , and then transmitted over the public internet to someone outside the military chain of command . Drones have become America 's tool of choice in both its conventional and shadow wars , allowing U.S. forces to attack targets and spy on its foes without risking American lives . Since President Obama assumed office , a fleet of approximately 30 CIA-directed drones have hit targets in Pakistan more than 230 times ; all told , these drones have killed more than 2,000 suspected militants and civilians , according to the Washington Post . More than 150 additional Predator and Reaper drones , under U.S. Air Force control , watch over the fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq . American military drones struck 92 times in Libya between mid-April and late August . And late last month , an American drone killed top terrorist Anwar al-Awlaki -- part of an escalating unmanned air assault in the Horn of Africa and southern Arabian peninsula . But despite their widespread use , the drone systems are known to have security flaws . Many Reapers and Predators do n't encrypt the video they transmit to American troops on the ground . In the summer of 2009 , U.S. forces discovered `` days and days and hours and hours '' of the drone footage on the laptops of Iraqi insurgents . A $ 26 piece of software allowed the militants to capture the video . The lion 's share of U.S. drone missions are flown by Air Force pilots stationed at Creech , a tiny outpost in the barren Nevada desert , 20 miles north of a state prison and adjacent to a one-story casino . In a nondescript building , down a largely unmarked hallway , is a series of rooms , each with a rack of servers and a `` ground control station , '' or GCS . There , a drone pilot and a sensor operator sit in their flight suits in front of a series of screens . In the pilot 's hand is the joystick , guiding the drone as it soars above Afghanistan , Iraq , or some other battlefield . Some of the GCSs are classified secret , and used for conventional warzone surveillance duty . The GCSs handling more exotic operations are top secret . None of the remote cockpits are supposed to be connected to the public internet . Which means they are supposed to be largely immune to viruses and other network security threats . But time and time again , the so-called `` air gaps '' between classified and public networks have been bridged , largely through the use of discs and removable drives . In late 2008 , for example , the drives helped introduce the agent.btz worm to hundreds of thousands of Defense Department computers . The Pentagon is still disinfecting machines , three years later . Use of the drives is now severely restricted throughout the military . But the base at Creech was one of the exceptions , until the virus hit . Predator and Reaper crews use removable hard drives to load map updates and transport mission videos from one computer to another . The virus is believed to have spread through these removable drives . Drone units at other Air Force bases worldwide have now been ordered to stop their use . In the meantime , technicians at Creech are trying to get the virus off the GCS machines . It has not been easy . At first , they followed removal instructions posted on the website of the Kaspersky security firm . `` But the virus kept coming back , '' a source familiar with the infection says . Eventually , the technicians had to use a software tool called BCWipe to completely erase the GCS ' internal hard drives . `` That meant rebuilding them from scratch '' -- a time-consuming effort . The Air Force declined to comment directly on the virus . `` We generally do not discuss specific vulnerabilities , threats , or responses to our computer networks , since that helps people looking to exploit or attack our systems to refine their approach , '' says Lt. Col. Tadd Sholtis , a spokesman for Air Combat Command , which oversees the drones and all other Air Force tactical aircraft . `` We invest a lot in protecting and monitoring our systems to counter threats and ensure security , which includes a comprehensive response to viruses , worms , and other malware we discover . '' However , insiders say that senior officers at Creech are being briefed daily on the virus . `` It 's getting a lot of attention , '' the source says . `` But no one 's panicking . Yet . '' Subscribe to WIRED magazine for less than $ 1 an issue and get a FREE GIFT ! Click here !