Stuxnet Worm May Have Targeted Iranian Reactor
yuna49 writes "Analysis of the Stuxnet worm suggests its target might have been Iran's nuclear program. "Last week Ralph Langner, a well-respected expert on industrial systems security, published an analysis of the Stuxnet worm, which targets Siemens software systems, and suggested that it may have been used to sabotage Iran's Bushehr nuclear reactor. A Siemens expert, Langner simulated a Siemens industrial network and then analyzed the worm's attack. Experts had first thought that Stuxnet was written to steal industrial secrets, but Langner found something quite different. The worm actually looks for very specific Siemens settings — a kind of fingerprint that tells it that it has been installed on a very specific Programmable Logic Controller (PLC) device — and then it injects its own code into that system."
Brilliant - let's get one up on the Iranians by messing with their nuclear reactor controls! What could possibly go wrong?
If true, this is reckless endangerment, and the people involved - government-backed or lone wolves - should be prosecuted. Just because the Iranian government is full of militaristic and theocratic jerks does not give anyone the right to endanger the lives of any old (or young) person living or working in and around that facility. Indeed, it's the kind of stunt that can only push their ruling class farther into paranoia and fear, the kind tha leads to... nuclear weapons development.
Someday, you're going to die. Get over it.
And Iran is probably going to blame Israel and then the shit hits the fan and it's WWIII. And we're all dead. Seriously, this is the kind of stuff that gives me ulcers.
My postings are informational and does not constitute legal advice. Act on it at your risk.
The worms in the reactor will eat the fuel rods, become radioactive, mutate, and destroy/dominate the world!
* Preemptive defense against the person who will take this post seriously: I realize most mutations have no significant effect, most of the remainder are harmful, and the chances of a slightly beneficial mutation, let alone a highly beneficial mutation is highly negligible. This post is for humor sake only.
Self proclaimed typo king, and inventor of the bear destroying coffee table (patent not pending).
CIA?
Researchers studying the worm all agree that Stuxnet was built by a very sophisticated and capable attacker
doubtful.
Truly it sounds like paradise. Unobtainium must exist there.
i have analyzed windows running on an isolated machine. While it's seemingly random crashes seem harmless enough, if this were to happen on the right system under the right circumstances, the results could be devastating! My conclusion is windows was engineered to be installed at norad and thwart a nuclear counterstrike by presenting inaccurate progress bars representing the ETA of incoming soviet warheads.
Maybe instead of bombing them or infecting them with a worm, we should notify MS and the BSA that Iran is using pirated copies of windows in their nuclear program. The subsequent audit will slow their nuke operation to a crawl!
I prefer rogues to imbeciles because they sometimes take a rest.
As an American, I am frightened and angered by suspicious level of knowledge combined with your lack of jingoism. I can only assume that you are on the side of the terrorists. I'm watching you.
I swear to God...I swear to God! That is NOT how you treat your human!