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Was Russia Behind Stuxnet?

Posted by Soulskill on from the from-russia-with-root dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Despite the U.S. and Israel being widely assumed to be responsible for Stuxnet, Russia is the more likely culprit, says U.S. Air Force cyber analyst. The nuclear gangsterism of the past 20 years gives it plenty of motive. Quoting: 'So what better way to maintain Russian interests, and innocence, than to plant a worm with digital U.S.-Israeli fingerprints? After all, Russian scientists and engineers are familiar with the cascading centrifuges whose numbers and configuration – and Siemen’s SCADA PLC controller schematics – they have full access to by virtue of designing the plants. ... the observers of the virus could alert the Iranians before full nuclear catastrophe struck. The Belarusian computer security experts who 'discovered' the code seemingly played that role well. They didn't seem too preoccupied with reverse engineering the malicious code to see what it was designed to do.'"

14 of 281 comments (clear)

  1. Government responsible says, 'Look, commies'. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Let's all trust the U.S. propaganda machine. It was the Russians.

    1. Re:Government responsible says, 'Look, commies'. by postbigbang · · Score: 5, Insightful

      A controlling minority in Iran is doing really stupid things. That justifies bombing them back into the Stone Age? I think the Stux virus is a stroke of genius. Whether Conficker was the delivery vehicle, or a USB drive, I don't care. It did the job peacefully of screwing up Iran's fueling program. What's to say it can't be done again? Why spend all of the weaponry when it can be done inside, without the loss of life, without a huge cost?

      The Persian people still have a chance of overthrowing their repression.

      If you use nukes, you open up a Pandora's Box that you probably won't be able to close. You'll give every terrorist idiot a reason to become martyrs using equal or uglier tactics.

      The regime in Iran, if they were to use nuclear weapons, would probably point them towards Israel. It would be the last thing they ever did. Instead, they want to play politics, and taste the power that comes by being India, Pakistan, etc. It's all about their sense of power, and respect, and ego.

      --
      ---- Teach Peace. It's Cheaper Than War.
    2. Re:Government responsible says, 'Look, commies'. by Runaway1956 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Hah. As a veteran, yeah, the Russians WERE the "bad guys". I guess a lot of adults today are to young to remember the Cold War.

      But, today, no. The Russians are no longer the "bad guys". But, neither are we the "good guys". Today, we're just assholes, and the Chinese stand at a crossroads, where they could be the new "bad guys" or the new "good guys". Russia? Let's wait for their next revolution before we decide what the hell they are.

      --
      "Windows is like the faint smell of piss in a subway: it's there, and there's nothing you can do about it." - Charlie Br
    3. Re:Government responsible says, 'Look, commies'. by Runaway1956 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Uhhhh - you put Pakistan on the same list as India? Odd. India has it's share of inbred tribals, they have their share of corruption, and they have their share of idiots in office. But, Pakistan? They are nothing BUT a bunch of inbred tribals! Power? They know nothing of power, outside of sword rattling.

      And, I strongly suspect that the US military knows exactly how to take out each and every one of Pakistan's weapons, in the event that Pakistan finally rolls over, and allows the Taliban to take control. Pakistan simply doesn't have any real power.

      Today's Iranian government might stand shoulder to shoulder with Pakistan, but they don't have a prayer of joining ranks with India.

      --
      "Windows is like the faint smell of piss in a subway: it's there, and there's nothing you can do about it." - Charlie Br
  2. Full Nuclear Catastrophe? From a centrifuge? by douglips · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Centrifuges can't cause a catastrophe, other than of the "oh shit my centrifuge just came apart and shredded my lab" kind. There is not a nuclear chain reaction to go out of control here.

    --
    My amazing wife - Artist, Author, Philosopher - Laurie M
  3. Really? by Acapulco · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Beyond the obvious fact that we will never know for sure who actually created it, it seems pretty naive to think a US 'cyber analyst' would say or even think anything different. After all Israel is a close US ally so it isn't like they would be interested in "telling the truth". It's like the boy who punches the other boy behind the teacher's back, of course he is not going to rat itself.

    So how is this a credible source? Maybe if it came from a team of international security researchers with evidence or something I would deem it a valuable piece of analysis.

    I kinda see this "research" as the ones conducted by Microsoft to evaluate IE, or Google to do so with Chrome and, oh surprise, they always come ahead. More like a political thing to say than any actual useful information or analysis being brought to light.

    --
    Slashdot. Unreadable news to annoy nerds. - wonkey_monkey
    1. Re:Really? by MimeticLie · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Except that this guy is a US Air Force analyst.

      So it's not a case of assuming a US citizen couldn't speak ill of the US; more a case of assuming that if the military is paying him to say this, it wants this version of events propagated (note that the piece doesn't provide any evidence pointing to the Russians. His argument is basically, "Well, they could have. And if we make a bunch of assumptions, they might have wanted to as well".).

    2. Re:Really? by Archtech · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Considering Slashdot is slight more anti-American than the Taliban that's obviously not true.

      Sorry, but I won't sit still for that. As a European who has always tried very hard to be cosmopolitan - a citizen of the world, and a member of the human race, rather than any kind of nationalist - I find that Slashdot is quite sophisticated technically, a bit less so politically, and actually exhibits a quite noticeable pro-American bias.

      Of course there are exceptions: I'm one of them. And there are a few people who blame everything on America. But what I'm saying is that, even among apparently sensible, well-educated, reasonable Slashdotters I find that, on average, there is a slight but very definite US "home team advantage". And that is quite natural, seeing how many Slashdotters are American; there's nothing wrong with patriotism and pride in your country.

      --
      I am sure that there are many other solipsists out there.
  4. Occam's Razor by cosm · · Score: 5, Insightful

    No.

    --
    'We are trying to prove ourselves wrong as quickly as possible, because only in that way can we find progress.' RPF
    1. Re:Occam's Razor by martin-boundary · · Score: 4, Insightful
      No, Occam's Razor suggests that the obvious enemies of Iran are the obvious culprits, namely US/Israel.

      Inventing fairytales about Russian double indirection to damage America is way too complicated, and believing an American intelligence analyst about the fairytale existence of a double indirection by Russia just to attack America's reputation (ie not even a real attack) is even more complicated.

      KISS.

  5. Propaganda by da8add1e · · Score: 5, Insightful

    all i needed to see was "An anonymous reader writes:" and the-diplomat.com, this is blatant propaganda -100 score It has no newsworthy merit is inaccurate in many ways as has already been pointed out by others (centrifuge's causing meltdown???) i know america is pissed about getting caught red handed with this, and also about the missile shield debacle http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/11/24/us-russia-medvedev-missiledefence-idUSTRE7AN1NE20111124 that's currently ongoing but how is aggravating Russia going to help in either matter?

    1. Re:Propaganda by Dails · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I'm pretty sure that nobody was caught with a hand of any color, which is basically why stuxnet was such a significant piece of work. You negate your own credibility by calling this inaccurate propaganda when you, in one poorly-constructed sentence, make inaccurate and baseless accusations.

  6. Re:Jihadis are as dangerous as Kamikazes by rainmouse · · Score: 5, Insightful

    If the US wanted to, they could have nuked the entire Muslim world after 9/11, given the popular mood in the country.

    Not without facing enforced disarmament and decades of sanctions from the rest of the developed world. This is a very bad American stereotype you are bandying around here. 'We can do what we want because we got the bomb and people should be grateful we don't just nuke them into the stone age..' There is a whole world out there and America becoming a rogue nuclear state would not go down well with the rest of it.

  7. Why would they? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

    It doesn't make the slightest sense. A strong Iran is in Russia's interest. If Russia wanted to keep Iran from building a bomb they could just stop supplying nuclear fuel and know-how. Or they could sabotage those plants in much more direct ways because they have access.

    And if the Israeli military is not involved they're certainly playing their role well. They seem to be quite proud of Stuxnet -- rightfully so, except that they should have concealed it longer. That "the US defence and intelligence communities" might have been "caught with their pants down" is not an argument. Not everything Israel does is vetted by the US. Frankly, if I were an Israeli official I would prefer not to involve US agencies, because they have little to contribute and are a security risk.