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Researcher Offers New Perspective On Stuxnet-Wielding Sabotage Program
An anonymous reader writes with this excerpt from Help Net Security: "Stuxnet, the malware that rocket the security world and the first recorded cyber weapon, has an older and more complex 'sibling' that was also aimed at disrupting the functioning of Iran's uranium enrichment facility at Natanz, but whose modus operandi was different. The claim was made by well-known German control system security expert and consultant Ralph Langner, who has been analyzing Stuxnet since the moment its existence was first discovered. He pointed out that in order to known how to secure industrial control systems, we need to know what actually happened, and in order to do that, we need to understand all the layers of the attack (IT, ICS, and physical), and be acquainted with the actual situation of all these layers as they were at the time of the attack."
Stuxnet, the malware that rocket
I didn't know it was airborne.
Stopped reading right there.
A grammar nazi dies everytime someone reads TFS
Was this put through Google translator? I almost choked on my lunch trying to reach through this.
They should proof read these posts. It's been bad lately. Good subjects, just makes it hard to read. the malware that "rocket" -> "rocked"
Hyperbole AND bad grasp of grammar!
Really wants to make me keep reading...
*Austin Powers* Really?
*Doctor Evil* No. Not really.
Chas - The one, the only.
THANK GOD!!!
As a control systems expert myself, I look at Lagners' statements and say.....duh?
Kind of obvious, is it not? Sounds like the usual forensic work we do any time there is a problem, security or otherwise.
“Stuxnet is a low-yield weapon with the overall intention to reduce the lifetime of Iran’s centrifuges and make their fancy control systems appear beyond their understanding,” he says, and estimates that the Stuxnet set back the Iranian nuclear program by over two years.
Interesting description - "low-yield"
That is a rather different take on it given the uproar over it.
much of left-wing thought is a kind of playing with fire by people who don't even know that fire is hot - George Orwell
to happen.
The choice regarding Iran may be between one new Chernobyl versus one or more new Hiroshimas. I doubt Iran will settle for less.
much of left-wing thought is a kind of playing with fire by people who don't even know that fire is hot - George Orwell
in order to known how to secure industrial control systems, we need to know what actually happened
False, we don't need to know everything bad that ever happened in order to secure a system.
This posting is provided 'AS IS' without warranty of any kind, implied or otherwise.
Rocket!
Fortunately, the rest of the world has shown far greater restraint and responsibility than the United States when it comes to causing "Hiroshimas." Despite moderately widespread nuclear proliferation, the US still holds the unchallenged record of being the only country to actually perpetrate mass nuclear murder. I'm not too worried about Iran getting nukes; it's much more troublesome that countries with a proven track record of large-scale violence and terror (like the US, and its buddy Israel) have such weapons.
for fuck's sake...
w0000000000000000t!
We gone ROCKET Iran back to the stone age!
Wait, they're already there, with the exception of the nuclear weapons Russia and China are helping them develop with all those US dollars China is sitting on.
I know I shouldn't have, but I read the whole document and it's really interesting. Langner thinks that the tactics (and probably the team as well) changed over time. Based on his observations I propose the following (conspiracy) theory:
The attacks on the enrichment plants have been going on much longer than anyone so far claims, maybe since the beginning. That's why Iran's progress was so much slower than what the Pakistany managed to do (the first generation centrifigues are supposedly extremely tricky). Instead of discovering the initial attack (described in the document), the Iranian's compensated for the seemingly random problems by including additional control measures not present in the design from Pakistan: shut-off valves to quickly isolate a malfunctioning centrifuge and over-pressure valves. It took them ten years instead of the two years of the Pakistany, but they still managed to get enrichement started. Maybe with their added failure-tolerant design the original attacks didn't work anymore, or there was a leadership change (as Langner speculates). Maybe the Iranian's suspected something and changed procedures also for contractors and workers (Langner thinks that the initial attack was with direct access to the system while the later attack had to somehow find a way in). Maybe then the initial team was the Israelis who wanted to remain hidden, and when their approach didn't work anymore they asked the Americans for help who used the NSA's attack library for a way accros the air gap. The Americans would probably also be less worried about remaining hidden and maybe actively wanted to send a message.
Altought admittely pure speculation, I think this scenario fits the known facts and observations. I'm curious to see what you think of this ;-)
They got in through an air gap and hid their presence fairly well.
Not sure why it couldn't happen here on our infrasturcture.
Perhaps running two different, independent control system brands on the same process would have help prevent this?
Pulling off two completely different hacks should be harder than one.
This is probably the most ignorant post I have read on Slashdot in quite a while. How tall of a wall should they build to stop the Palestinians from launching rockets over it? How deep should it go to stop them from tunneling under it? Do you seriously think it is the Israelis who are perpetuating the violence?
You ask why Israel can't ask Iran to set down at a peace conference, when Iran funds terrorists to attack Israel? When Iran has stated that Israel must be destroyed? When Iran refused to even recognize the current existence of Israel? Seriously? Btw, Israel has thriving trade with some other Arab countries, just not those trying to destroy it.
Also- take your "you jews" and shove it up your distended exhaust port. Try to be less of a racist POS and learn something about what's going on in the Middle East before you start spouting out ignorant suggestions that a child should realize are ridiculous.
Remember that captured drone in Iran? ;-)
What if someone had 'accidentally' left a click drive on it?
The Iranian researchers would probably send it to their most secure facility in order to study it.
That's one way around a secure air gap
Wow. Jabberwocky on serious steroids. Perhaps we need a +/-1 Inscrutable here!
"[I]t is a wise man who admits the limits of his knowledge or skill, and that pretending either causes harm." --Terry Go