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Stuxnet Worms On

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the squirmy-squirmy dept.

Numerous Stuxnet related stories continue to flow through my bin today, so brace yourself: Unsurprisingly, Iran blames Stuxnet on a plot set up by the West, designed to infect its nuclear facilities. A Symantec researcher analyzed the code and put forth attack scenarios. A Threatpost researcher writes about the sophistication of the worm. Finally, Dutch multinationals have revealed that the worm is also attacking them. We may never know what this thing was really all about.

8 of 141 comments (clear)

  1. Never thought I would defend Iran, but... by elrous0 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I don't think this is just one of those "Look at Iran, making some outlandish crazy new allegation!" thing (like it was when Ahmadinejad tried to claim there were no homosexuals in Iran or blamed the U.S. Government for 9-11). Considering the very disproportionate hit they took of these infections, the obvious suspects (those who would benefit most from their nuclear program taking a hit), the precision of the targeting of the virus (two very specific models of Seimens PLC's), the impressive sophistication of the worm, etc. I hardly think it's some tin-foil hat conspiracy theory for them to assert that it was a "western power" (most likely Israel or the U.S.) behind this worm.

    --
    SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
    1. Re:Never thought I would defend Iran, but... by MozeeToby · · Score: 2, Insightful

      It's worth noting that although many systems have been compromised worldwide, the only reports of equipment actually being damaged are apocryphal reports of 'nuclear accidents' at Iran's centrifuge facilities. The international community has assumed that those accidents were caused by the worm, and Iran calling the worm an attack on their nuclear ambitions seams to support that claim. Personally, I find the second wave of infections more likely to be someone modifying the payload and basic parameters for their own ends, it seems quite different from the mindset that drove the first set of attacks.

    2. Re:Never thought I would defend Iran, but... by gad_zuki! · · Score: 2, Insightful

      >they have a fascinating culture, and one thats very different from our own in many ways.

      Finding a death penalty for homosexuality fascinating? It should be horrifying. Same thing for atheism or denying Islam.

      >Thats pretty much what he said.

      Err, transsexualism and homosexuality are two very different things. Iran has a lot of social pressures to force homosexuals into subsidized transsexual treatment, which does nothing but victimize and humiliate homosexuals who have no problem with their gender, its what they want to have sex with that has the theocracts running scared. Theocracy is not a valid form of government. Stop defending it as fascinating. Its victimizing and horrible.

    3. Re:Never thought I would defend Iran, but... by at_slashdot · · Score: 2, Insightful

      >they have a fascinating culture, and one thats very different from our own in many ways.

      Finding a death penalty for homosexuality fascinating?

      Since when the legal system, especially in a religious autocratic regime, is part of "culture".

      --
      "It is our choices, Harry, that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities." -- Prof. Dumbledore
    4. Re:Never thought I would defend Iran, but... by elrous0 · · Score: 2, Insightful

      I think Occam's Razor usually applies to suspects too. And in this case the most obvious suspect, with the most to gain by far, is Israel. There is even some evidence in the code that this is the case, and the Israeli government itself has openly acknowledged that it has extensive cyber-warfare plans.

      Now of course, there are any number of ways to dismiss this if you REALLY want to believe that Israel wasn't involved (and it's always possible that they weren't). But you can do that with any case, no matter how clear-cut. I can make the same argument that O.J. Simpson never killed anyone (maybe it was just someone making it LOOK like he did it, there were probably other people with some reason to kill Ron and Nicole too). But is that the logical conclusion or just wishful thinking on my part because I don't want to believe that O.J. did it?

      --
      SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
  2. Any one has more details on the plc payload ? by JonySuede · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Any one has more details on the PLC payload ? I want to know what kind of changes it makes to the plc software.

    --
    Jehovah be praised, Oracle was not selected
  3. Re:We may never know? We DO know! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Oh geez. Iran is the same nation where beheadings are common (as is cousin and even double-cousin marriage), women have to be kept in beekeeper outfits for fear some Iranian neanderthal male will see an ankle and go on a rampage of rape and destruction...

    Yes, we know, you hate Iran and Iranians, but don't you get sick of posting the same troll again and again on every article that has to do with Iran? You knew parent's post was tongue-in-cheek, but you still took the time to make it known how much you hate Iran before going "oh, it was tongue-in-cheek" ha ha ha. So clever.

    This is what Iran looked like in the 1970s before the revolution -- none of these people were "neanderthals". It's not the people who want their women to dress up in "beekeper outfits", it's the tyrannous government. I take it you were born after 1979? Please, get some perspective.

  4. Re:Might not be the West... by perpenso · · Score: 2, Insightful

    ... Maybe it's some college buddies in Tel Aviv who decided that they wanted to target Iran, or maybe Stuxnet was just a worm of the week from blackhats (many of which are getting ridiculously complex) that just happened to get into the Iranian facilities ...

    They needed a lot of expensive industrial control equipment to develop and test on.