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Stuxnet Was Designed To Subtly Interfere With Uranium Enrichment

Posted by Soulskill on from the well-thank-god-it-didn't-infect-my-pc dept.

ceswiedler writes "Wired is reporting that the Stuxnet worm was apparently designed to subtly interfere with uranium enrichment by periodically speeding or slowing specific frequency converter drives spinning between 807Hz and 1210Hz. The goal was not to cause a major malfunction (which would be quickly noticed), but rather to degrade the quality of the enriched uranium to the point where much of it wouldn't be useful in atomic weapons. Statistics from 2009 show that the number of enriched centrifuges operational in Iran mysteriously declined from about 4,700 to about 3,900 at around the time the worm was spreading in Iran."

1 of 334 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Resources, will, and motive by kestasjk · · Score: 1, Troll

    [Hypothetical Russian Contractor]:"Well, this styrofoam someone threw in the reactor 3 months before launch is nasty stuff, and will cost a lot of your precious Iranian dollars to fix. (Thank goodness we thought of that before we wrote the most complex worm ever written. With the Iranian maintenance and repair fees Russia can finally conquer the world!)"

    --
    // MD_Update(&m,buf,j);