Trojan may have contributed to fatal Spanair crash

The Spanair plane crash that killed 154 people two years ago on Friday may have been partly caused by malware, according to reports.

The newspaper El Pais reported on Friday that Spanair's mainframe was contaminated with Trojans at the time that Flight JK 5022 to Gran Canaria crashed just after take-off at Madrid's Barajas airport.

The mainframe was supposed to raise the alarm when three similar technical problems were noted, but did not do so due to the infestation, El Pais said.

According to the report, investigating judge Juan David Perez has ordered Spanair to turn over the relevant data. There are currently two defendants in the case, both Spanair technicians.