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."

Comments

Re:So....the CIA wrote it?

[Anonymous Coward]

CIA?

Researchers studying the worm all agree that Stuxnet was built by a very sophisticated and capable attacker

doubtful.

Re:speculation anyone?

[shadowrat]

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.

Re:So....the CIA wrote it?

[GodfatherofSoul]

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.