Iran Allegedly Hit By Computer Virus More Violent Than Stuxnet (timesofisrael.com)

TTL0 shares a report from The Times of Israel: Iranian infrastructure and strategic networks have come under attack in the last few days by a computer virus similar to Stuxnet but "more violent, more advanced and more sophisticated," and Israeli officials are refusing to discuss what role, if any, they may have had in the operation, an Israeli TV report said Wednesday. "Remember Stuxnet, the virus that penetrated the computers of the Iranian nuclear industry?" the report on Israel's Hadashot news asked. Iran "has admitted in the past few days that it is again facing a similar attack, from a more violent, more advanced and more sophisticated virus than before, that has hit infrastructure and strategic networks." The Iranians, the TV report went on, are "not admitting, of course, how much damage has been caused." On Sunday, Gholamreza Jalali, the head of Iran's civil defense agency, said Tehran had neutralized a new version of Stuxnet, Reuters reported. Stuxnet penetrated Iran's nuclear program, "taking control and sabotaging parts of its enrichment processes by speeding up its centrifuges," the report notes. We'll update this story when more details become available.

Comments

Re: The bit is mightier than then sword

[c6gunner]

This virus is so powerful it even hacked Slashdot to fuck up your post title.

Now we see the violence inherent in the system!

[sheramil]

What acts of violence has this virus committed? The linked article was rather short on detail, although it did describe several instances of violent behavior on behalf of various associated meatba^H^H^H^H^H^H humans.

The most violent thing I ever saw a program do was to toggle the tape selector input relay on the System 80 computer, rapidly, to make a loud buzzing noise, and eventually destroy the relay.

Re:Now we see the violence inherent in the system!

[Anonymous Coward]

"Cyberweapons and sophisticated hacking pose a greater threat to the United States than the risk of physical attacks, Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen said Wednesday"

Re:Now we see the violence inherent in the system!

[radja]

Stuxnet managed to do almost the same, but to ultracentrifuges used to enrich uranium.

Re:Now we see the violence inherent in the system!

[HornWumpus]

Back in the 80s. IBM brought out a new harddrive they claimed was bulletproof.

Somebody figured the platter resonance frequency and 'tacoma narrows bridged' it with head motion during a demo.

Re:Now we see the violence inherent in the system!

[cavreader]

The most impressive thing about the Stuxnet virus was getting it into one of Iran's most secure facilities and loaded into their internal network. A network with no outside connectivity.

Re:Now we see the violence inherent in the system!

[DeVilla]

Ya? But can it get ultracentrifuges to play the Sing Song Serenade like my C64 could do with it's floppy drive?

Re: The bit is mightier than then sword

[mutu310]

The virus is so powerful, it even hacked Chuck Norris :o

advanced

[Andy Smith]

more advanced AND more sophisticated?

DAMN...

Re:advanced

[Impy the Impiuos Imp]

It wrecks your centrifuges even faster, and smokes a cigarette in a dinner jacket while doing it.

Re:advanced

[hAckz0r]

That's right. This new virus is so "sophisticated" that it can even damage the centrifuges that are packed away in storage and not currently running. But wait, the next software update will even damage the ones the Iranians have not even been ordered yet. That'll show them!
/s

After all, the Iranians would not lie to us would they? Then why would Ayatollah Ali Khamenei worry about a cyber attack on an infrustructure that should not currently be running?

That's what you get

[Anonymous Coward]

For looking at Burka pr0n on work machines.

Re:That's what you get

[cayenne8]

For looking at Burka pr0n on work machines.

OOOh...look!! An ankle.....[heavy breathing]

Re: That's what you get

[Type44Q]

"Ladies everywhere, cover your ankles - except down South; no one wants to look at those."

Those in glass houses

[Anonymous Coward]

Our entire economy is integrated with computers now. Throwing open the doors on destructive attackâ(TM)s to cripple a govt/economy is just stupid, we are way more vulnerable to this shit and no we do not have adequate protections in place.

Re: Those in glass houses

[Anonymous Coward]

There will never be adequate protections in place because the surface area is so great, and software is NEVER EVER bug free. The nature of software bugs is that they lay hidden in wait. Developers get shuffled around or leave, others interface with their systems or cobble in new features with imperfect knowledge. Bugs are born. Not to mention the chance , which has been known to happen, where someone is paid to embed a bug. Devs could even embed an obscure bug in hopes of collecting a 6 figure bug bounty in the future as a form of retirement investment. Our reliance and trust on computers is our Achilles heel.

Re:Those in glass houses

[HeckRuler]

Specifically, all the zero-day exploits in the "arsenal" of the CIA and friends are simply bugs that they could fix to make the USA more secure. They could inform the maintainers, make patches, and close security holes. But they don't, as seen with the vault7 leak. Instead they hoard these things in a hope to use them offensively against others. Who knows who else has found the exact same security holes. It's the part where they choose not to make citizens more secure in exchange for... well... things like this. That's what gets me. Not only are they choosing offense over defense, but every bit of offense they develop is by definition a failure in defense.

Re:Overly Dramatic Headline

[Anonymous Coward]

I disagree. I think my computer might walk up and punch you.

Re:Overly Dramatic Headline

[butzwonker]

We're talking about command&control systems of chemical plants, nuclear power plants, hospitals, cars, trains, elevators, etc., not your average home computer. In this case, they've probably destroyed some costly centrifuges.

What now?

[AndyKron]

How is this not an act of war? Then again, Israel is constantly engaged in acts of war against Iran.

Re:What now?

[Anonymous Coward]

How is this not an act of war? Then again, Israel is constantly engaged in acts of war against Iran.

Funny how it's the leaders of Iran who have literally vowed to conduct genocide and "wipe Israel off the map".

And then Iran created a proxy army (Hezbollah) that actually is trying to do just that.

Kinda strange how you missed that.

But hey, you're not an anti-Semite. You just blindly support a medieval bunch of homophobic misogynists in their attempt to kill Jews because the fucking Koran says so.

Re:What now?

[fred911]

How is this not an act of war? Then again, Israel is constantly engaged in acts of war against Iran.

Obviously. Their best defense is a proactive offense. Someone has to be responsible for common sense.

Re:What now?

[Alain Williams]

How is this not an act of war?

It is an act of war, just as killing people in other countries is war. But: we just don't talk much about it if it is done by countries that we like, or do a lot of business with; or even if done by our own country.

Re:What now?

[Anonymous Coward]

Are you also claiming that Hezbollah is a mistranslation? Or are you still looking for a way to internally rationalize supporting terrorists while claiming not to?

Re:What now?

[Oswald McWeany]

Israel gets away with it because they have the most powerful military nation in the world standing behind them. If it wasn't for Western guilt over the atrocities that happened in WWII, Israel would be viewed as a dangerous pariah state by the West, but it's politically "insensitive" to think of them as the bully-state they've become. The attempted genocide guilt does belong to all the West- anti Semitism was rife across most Western nations in the 30's, if it wasn't Germany, it could easily have happened in another country.

As it is, they get away with violating the sovereignty of countries all over the world carrying out illegal raids and missions knowing their big brother the US has got their back. One would think- rather than continue out the "bully-thy-neighbor" approach they would be better off trying to build friendships. If the US ever stops supporting Israel, one day the guilt of WWII will no longer be so fresh, or perhaps a President who is sympathetic to the Palestinian apartheid will be elected. Would an isolated Israel last long after all the hate, destruction and violation they have performed on their neighbours?

Re:What now?

[Anonymous Coward]

Hezzabola launches rockets at schools for 5 year olds in Israel (supplied by Iran), not a peep from you.
Israel uses a computer virus to prevent WMDs from being created and used on them, they are the most evil people ever according to you.

THIS is what anti-Semitism looks like folks.

story 1
story 2
I went looking for the story I remember a couple years ago, all I could find was it happening TWICE this year, but as long as Jews are targeted you seem to be cool with it.

Re:What now?

[ph1ll]

"Experts confirm that Iran's president did not call for Israel to be 'wiped off the map''" The Guardian, 14 June 2006.

There are many reasons to criticize Iran but a constantly quoted mistranslation is not one of them.

Re:What now?

[mjwx]

Israel gets away with it because they have the most powerful military nation in the world standing behind them.

Erm.. no. Iran will not declare war on Israel not because of it's military might but because the Iranian government, most of whom are Arabs from southern Iraq will lose control over the Iranian people (most of whom are Persian). The thing about Iranians and Israelis is if you put them together on any other part of the world they get along like a house on fire. When the Baha'i and Zoroastrians were forced to flee by the Islamic revolution, a lot of them went to Israel. Any war between Iran and Israel will see families reunited, many Iranians will welcome this and quickly turn their back on the theocratic regime.

Re:What now?

[Anonymous Coward]

"Experts confirm that Iran's president did not call for Israel to be 'wiped off the map''" The Guardian, 14 June 2006.

There are many reasons to criticize Iran but a constantly quoted mistranslation is not one of them.

Knock it off.

This is the exact quote:

Our dear Imam (referring to Ayatollah Khomeini) said that the occupying regime must be wiped off the map and this was a very wise statement. We cannot compromise over the issue of Palestine. Is it possible to create a new front in the heart of an old front. This would be a defeat and whoever accepts the legitimacy of this regime has in fact, signed the defeat of the Islamic world. Our dear Imam targeted the heart of the world oppressor in his struggle, meaning the occupying regime. I have no doubt that the new wave that has started in Palestine, and we witness it in the Islamic world too, will eliminate this disgraceful stain from the Islamic world.

"wiped off the map" wasn't an isolated case. The sentiment is repeated in the statement multiple times, so hanging your hat on the exact translation is somewhere between specious bullshit and disingenuous chicanery.

And even then, that "wiped off the map" has been used and has continued to be used by Iran:

The Iranian presidential website stated: "the Zionist Regime of Israel faces a deadend and will under God's grace be wiped off the map," and "the Zionist Regime that is a usurper and illegitimate regime and a cancerous tumor should be wiped off the map."[84]

Iran had used the phrase "Israel must be wiped off the map" previously as well. In 1999, a military parade carried slogans that read "Israel must be wiped off the map" in Farsi and English.[85]

Joshua Teitelbaum of the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs discovered pictures of Iranian propaganda banners that clearly say in English: "Israel should be wiped out of the face of the world."[86][87]

In March 2016, Iran tested a ballistic missile painted with the phrase "Israel should be wiped off the Earth" in Hebrew. The missile is reported to be capable of reaching Israel.

Other Ahmadinejad quotes follow. I'll pass on the Holocaust denial ones, because they don't directly address Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's clear calls for and support of the literal destruction of Israel and the genocide required to do that.

But if you want to argue that Ahmadinejad didn't call for the destruction of Israel - multiple times - go ahead. You'll just mark yourself a bigger fool.

Those who think they can revive the stinking corpse of the usurping and fake Israeli regime by throwing a birthday party are seriously mistaken. Today the reason for the Zionist regime's existence is questioned, and this regime is on its way to annihilation.

any freedom lover and justice seeker in the world must do its best for the annihilation of the Zionist regime in order to pave the path for the establishment of justice and freedom in the world

Israel "has no place in the region."

The Zionist regime has lost its raison d'être. Today, the Palestinians identify with your name Khomeini, your memory, and in your path. They are walking in your illuminated path and the Zionist regime has reached a total dead end. Thanks to God, your wish will soon be realized, and this germ of corruption will be wiped off.

... like a cancer cell that spreads through the body, this regime infects any region. It must be removed from the body.

This entity [Israel] can be compared to a kidney transplanted in a body that rejected it. “Yes it will collapse and its end will be near.

Go ahead. Keep trying to defend him with a "mistranslation" defense.

It's like arguing "Your honor my client didn't murder anyone with a rock! He used a brick!"

Re:What now?

[thegarbz]

From your link: "the regime occupying Jerusalem must vanish from the page of time"

I'd prefer to be wiped off the face off the map than to be wiped out of history. Now what typically happens when something is horribly mistranslated is that someone comes out and says "I didn't say that". Do you have a link to that?

Re: What now?

[Anonymous Coward]

For literally wiping something off the map, that's usually just Windex and paper towel.

Re:What now?

[Anonymous Coward]

1. Koran doesn't say kill the Jews!
2. Opposing Israel doesn't make you an anti-semite. it just makes you a rational person that hates terrorists, and yes Israel is involved in a lot of acts of terror, as well as Iran and US and Saudi and lots of other countries.
3. Hezbollah is not wiping Israel off the map! they are fighting for Palestinians, which Israel is trying to wipe off the map.

You had 4 sentences, 3 of them wrong. Congratulations! you passed the bar to become the next president of the United states.

Re: What now?

[liefer]

So fast to throw the antisemite card, over nothing. He said nothing that justifies you calling him that. I guess this is the world we live in now, everyone accusing each other of being the worst and most extreme thing you can think of, hoping you'll be seen as the victim and still hold the moral high ground despite the unreasonable aggressive response that's inevitably coming. In short: people enjoy being bullies too much

Re:What now?

[Anonymous Coward]

Israel HAS their own WMD. Should we spread viruses throughout Israel too?

Only credible source for this is Jimmy Carter, the anti-Semite DNC president who has spent most of his life smearing Israel while promoting terrorist. If you agree with Carter doesn't make it non anti-Semite, it mean YOU are an anti-Semite.

Denouncing evil acts performed by the Israeli state is not anti-Semitism.

Refusing to denounce attacks targeting children as acts of terrorism IS anti-Semitism. Congratulations, your up to 2 for 2.

Back this up with evidence!

I gave you two incidents, with links to different sources. Again you failed to mention attacking small children is wrong because they are Jews. You are now 3 for 3 on your anti-Semite comments.

Then you continue on with just kill all of the Israelites and give their land to others.

Yep, you are the definition of anti-Semite. Congratulations, you will go far in the DNC with views like that.

Re:What now?

[hey!]

Iran's government is extremely complicated, combining elements of democracy, republicanism, and theocracy. The Iranian Constitution reflects a deep-seated Shia ambivalence toward authority -- both a longing for it and a distrust of it.

So the thing Americans on both sides of our political divide tend to miss is that Iran has internal politics too. The Iranian Republic in a way resembles the Roman republic, with a confusing profusion of specialized legislative and judicial bodies, all potentially under the control of rival groups.

It's a mistake to personify Iran the country or even the government of Iran, because any way you characterize it is bound to represent some faction or another. For American conservatives it is the Revolutionary Guards that represent Iran -- imagine if American evangelicals had their own branch of the military that pursued its own foreign policy. For American liberals, Iranian liberals like Rouhani and Zarif represent Iran. And between those two groups you have Khamenei, who is notoriously uncharismatic and who has dubious qualifications as a cleric. He's done well out of the leadership, estimates are he's raked in a hundred billion dollars, but to stay in power he's got to throw the hardliners red meat while not letting them do anything that would destabilize his position.

Re:What now?

[Oswald McWeany]

Only credible source for this is Jimmy Carter, the anti-Semite DNC president who has spent most of his life smearing Israel while promoting terrorist. If you agree with Carter doesn't make it non anti-Semite, it mean YOU are an anti-Semite.

Actually, Isarali officials have admitted that they have WMD because they even admitted that use against Egypt was authorized when it looked like they were losing the war in the early stages. A strike against Egypt was authorized if they approached Jerusalem or Tel Aviv.

Refusing to denounce attacks targeting children as acts of terrorism IS anti-Semitism. Congratulations, your up to 2 for 2.

I do denounce them. I did denounce them. I continue to denounce them. I believe you're just a racist that believes yourself superior and justified for killing Palestinians because you see them as inferior to yourself. If you're not you would denounce what Israel does.

Re: What now?

[Oswald McWeany]

The Ashkenazi and Russian jews who make up the bulk of Israel's jewish population are not semites. The palestinians and arabs who are native to that region, are actually semitic in origin. Therefore its not anti-semitic to oppose Jewish Zionism. It is anti-semitic to oppose Palestinian freedom, it is anti-semitic to propose that the european jewish colonists planted in the middle east by the british empire somehow have suprior claim to the land than the native palestinians.

You're actually on to something. Genetic tests show that Palestinians are closer related to the Hebrew people from 2000 years ago than the average person living in Israel today. Personally, I don't think genetics is really relevant because people are people no matter who their ancestors are- but it is an interesting piece of trivia.

Re:What now?

[Oswald McWeany]

Both sides do evil despicable acts.

Why is it when you point out liberal heroes being bad beyond any ability to spin out of it, you get the "both sides are equally bad"

In this case one side is putting out computer viruses, the other is literally targeting jewish children. I normally don't bring out the Nazi word, but this is LITERLLY why the Nazi word is brought out and it is "equally as bad" as a computer virus?
This is a liberal that has gone so far over the edge he should probably be committed.

Killing Jewish children is a terrible thing. Killing any child is a terrible thing. Israeli's kill more Palestinians per year than the other way around. Every time the Palestinians or any other violent group kills an Israeli, they respond by killing a dozen Palestinians per Israeli killed. I think in this case Israel is actually closer to being "the Nazis"- leaders like Netanyahu, use racism against another group of people to help get themselves elected and then increase their popularity by killing another group and keeping another group suppressed. The ruling party is held in power by making the people feel superior to their subjugated people and by uniting the country in hatred. This is the same tactics that Hitler used- to unify a nation by using hate as a tool.

Re: Overly Dramatic Headline

[Anonymous Coward]

What happens if your bank or pension fund records all go down for a month and you lose access to all your money? Or the stock market gets jacked or transactions get corrupted on purpose and the system has to be shut down? What happens if a dam controls get opened wide up and burnt out or a nuclear facility toyed with so control systems lie to their operators? Software can be violent and or directly lead to pain violence and misery

Re:Overly Dramatic Headline

[Gavagai80]

Now instead of sending assassins to shoot nuclear physics professors maybe we can remotely hijack university elevators to drop them to their deaths.

We need more and more features

[aberglas]

The more features software has the better. Eventually it will become so complicated that even the virus writers will not be able to understand it.

But writing Stuxnet was an appalling thing to do because it legitimized state sponsored computer attacks as being legitimate and non-military. The west cannot take high moral ground about them having launched Stuxnet against Iran. And Stuxnet only slowed them down by a few months anyway, despite being extremely clever. It also escaped, and was discovered in Russia, by memory.

So the only thing to do is spend lots more money on cyber warfare. So I guess the Stuxnet team was extremely successful in achieving that, its real goal.

Re:We need more and more features

[gtall]

Yeah, not even the Russkies would have thought to use something like Stuxnet if we hadn't shown them how.

Oh, how we may lament the thought of losing the high moral ground in computer security. If we still had that, by gum that'd have stopped'em.

Giving the enemy a bigger sword

[frith01]

Doesn't anyone consider the idea that by deploying this weaponized code, they are giving the iranians a tool to use to retaliate ?

ie, stick a thumb drive in a known infected computer, airplane trip to the U.S. , drop thumb drive in parking lot labeled "PORN" , etc..

Re:Giving the enemy a bigger sword

[Zocalo]

If it's anything like Stuxnet in terms of how it operates then the payload will be extremely specific to the environment it was targeting - e.g. require a specific control app, managing, a given make/model of PLC, connected to a given type of mechanical/electrical plant, and so on. What it might potentially do is provide victims with access to one or more zero-day vulnerabilities for those tools/products they may not have been previously aware of if they can successfully reverse engineer them, but they'd still need to repurpose those to their own ends, find suitable targets, and design their own payloads. The clock on that is also ticking, because copies of the code will get out into the security community at large, and once that happens CVE numbers will eventually get assigned and patches produced. Stuxnet might still be revealling hidden depths, but it's highly unlikely that most of the delivery mechanisms it employed would still be effective in delivering payloads anywhere except for locations that have almost no concept of security and the importance of software/firmware updates.

How Childish

[johnsie]

Maybe people in that region of the world should stop being childish idiots and learn how to get along with each other. I know that would require some common sense. Maybe that's what they are lacking around there?

Re: How Childish

[Anonymous Coward]

Yep, they should get along with people, just like our temper-tantrum-in-chief. He gets along great with anyone who strokes his ego.

Re:How Childish

[Oswald McWeany]

I prefer to think of the Left's misuse of the terms
Fascist to describe Libertarians
Racist to describe Republicans that actually were active in the Civil Rights Movement (Jeff Sessions comes to mind)
Hate Speech to describe anything they disagree with
Cronyism while Obama turned the DOJ into a shakedown artist and slush fund.
Interfering in elections, a crime that has no statute (rather amazing that must of slipped past)

NPC by comparison is rather kind.

Definitely both sides create derogatory labels to put down the other.

  I'm not sure where Fascist comes in to describe Libertarians (I don't think I've ever seen 'faschist' used to describe them)- fascism involves a strong government power that is used to suppress certain groups and maintain a strong police state. Libertarians are the polar opposite of fascists. Libertarians share the same goal as those on the far left, believing everyone should be treated equally but have a completely different strategy on how to achieve that. Libertarians want to achieve it by government backing off and leaving everyone alone to do their own thing equally- leftists want to achieve it by government enforcing equality.

  I could see Fascist used to derogatively describe the alt-right or far right, it would apply better to social conservatives; but wouldn't make sense applied to Libertarians. "Anarchists" would be a better label to apply to Libertarians if you wanted to be derogatory against them. Even "Hippy" would be closer than fascist (although probably not a very accurate moniker for many).

Re:How Childish

[dryeo]

It's amazing how many libertarians heavily support Trump, who is very authoritarian. At that, with some libertarians, it seems that they just want the government out of the way so their favorite authoritarian, usually of a corporate nature, can do what ever it wants.
A libertarian should be against authoritarianism, whether left or right rather then being blind to the authoritarianism in their party.

Re:How Childish

[Oswald McWeany]

It's amazing how many libertarians heavily support Trump, who is very authoritarian. At that, with some libertarians, it seems that they just want the government out of the way so their favorite authoritarian, usually of a corporate nature, can do what ever it wants.
A libertarian should be against authoritarianism, whether left or right rather then being blind to the authoritarianism in their party.

Anyone who claims to be libertarian and supports Trump is doing it for one of two reasons.

1) They think that Trump is better than the democrats, the lesser of two evils.
2) They're not really Libertarian and they use that term to describe themselves because they don't know what that term means, they've probably heard things like "Libertarians are against Gun Control or drug control and for small government" and ignored the fact that being a true libertarian is also against border controls or anything else that inhibits the movement of goods and people, laws dictating morality, religion mixing with politics, etc. A certain portion of people that claim to be Libertarians are really just conservatives that like drugs and not libertarian.

For full disclosure- when I was younger I considered myself a Libertarian but as I got older I began to believe that while Libertarianism sounds good in theory- a lot of things don't work in practice.

Re:How Childish

[dryeo]

1) They think that Trump is better than the democrats, the lesser of two evils

While I can understand voting for the lesser evil, something I've considered in my country. I still don't understand being proud of it and heavily supporting it.
Though I think your #2 is mostly right.

Re:How Childish

[dryeo]

Yes, that seems to describe many American Libertarians. Funny enough. libertarianism was originally a left wing thing, the ones just a bit saner then the anarchists.

Re:How Childish

[Crashmarik]

The point is not about the demeaning of one group or another it's about accuracy in the label.

Example
Calling Ben Shapiro a NAZI https://www.youtube.com/watch?...
Just how a Libertarian leaning conservative qualifies as a NAZI is rather odd.

NPC however is rather descriptive, it's on the order of Canadians are lousy drivers. Not true for every single Canadian, but the odds favor it.

Re:Overly Dramatic Headline

[Anonymous Coward]

Now instead of sending assassins to shoot nuclear physics professors maybe we can remotely hijack university elevators to drop them to their deaths.

If you really want to be terrified: look up mass dampers in skyscrappers. Now look up "active mass dampers" and realize there are some in all major cities.

Re:Saudi gold

[froggyjojodaddy]

I don't believe Israel has ever been included in the 'axis of evil' statement by the US. In fact, it's the opposite..

Re:Overly Dramatic Headline

[cascadingstylesheet]

A computer virus may stop your computer from working but its not "violent" - its not going to walk up and punch you.

With the "internet of things" now, who knows?

It may try to microwave you or slam your garage door on you, anyway ...

Re:Saudi gold

[ghoul]

Israel has been accused of being in an Axis of Evil. It was called the Protocols of Zion and was just as ridiculous as the Axis of Evil Meme

Israel

[Martin S.]

I think Israel would be quite happy to be assumed to responsible even if they were not. They would be the fall guy for the US, purely to engender the perception they were capable of this.

Iran is not short of enemies these days and this would also include the Saudis. Though I would suspect their inhouse capability, I think they would be quite able to outsource this requirement.

Stuxnet was targetted against Germany

[ghoul]

It specifically targetted Siemens controllers the Iranians had bought. It ensured that for the future the Iranians would either buy American controllers on the black market or use non-western controllers which there was a lesser chance of the US/Israel having source code to.
The Germans were pissed about Stuxnet as it killed their market for controllers around the world.

Re:Stuxnet was targetted against Germany

[gtall]

More to the point, the Siemens was pissed because it showed they were clueless in terms of security and that now others would notice.

Re:Stuxnet was targetted against Germany

[Anonymous Coward]

I wouldn't ever want to be seen as defending Siemens, but for the sake of accuracy I would say their security overall is about average for the industry. The problem is that the industry average is incredibly low.

Re:Stuxnet was targetted against Germany

[johnsie]

Seimens are still the leading provider of PLCs in Europe. Of course they were mad that someone targeted their hardware though. They were collateral damage in the US war on stability in the middle east.

Re:Stuxnet was targetted against Germany

[johnsie]

To be fair most PLCs had bad security at that point. The Modbus standard is one of the most unsecure protocols. German companies were among the first to start implementing better security on their products as a direct reponse to Stuxnet.

And now we know why Kerry was in Iran

[ghoul]

He was handing out infected USB drives.

No real reason for him to be there given he has no official post in the US govt anymore so maybe hes supplementing his retirement with a little freelance cyberterrorism

Re:And now we know why Kerry was in Iran

[Crashmarik]

Yeah he is amazing, that incompetent blow hard persona he projects is just incredible.

He's a modern day Zorro

Re:But who? Who would purposefully do that? Any wh

[Anonymous Coward]

Canada. Canada is the only country that could do this AND get away with it. Who'd think Canada? That's laughable. But it's so ridiculous that it was Canada that it HAS to be Canada.

Re:The bit is mightier than then sword

[Oswald McWeany]

The bit is mightier than then sword

I know bit sure is!

Comment removed

[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

Re:But who? Who would purposefully do that? Any wh

[Oswald McWeany]

Canada. Canada is the only country that could do this AND get away with it. Who'd think Canada? That's laughable. But it's so ridiculous that it was Canada that it HAS to be Canada.

Apparently this message pops up on the screen:

"Dear User, I'm sorry, but this PC has now been wiped of all relevant data by the "Stuxnet Eh?" virus. I am really sorry I wiped out all your data. Again... I'm really really sorry, PM Trudeau made me write this, and he is really sorry too!"

Re:Overly Dramatic Headline

[Oswald McWeany]

A computer virus may stop your computer from working but its not "violent" - its not going to walk up and punch you.

No, but if a foreign country did it to us and it caused enough of a crippling to one of our infrastructure projects or caused enough economic damage you could bet our politicians would complain about it being "an act of war". Even with some of the more minor hackings done by China, and Russia a few politicians have made some such comments. If something as big as Stuxnet hit us, I think the majority would want some form of retaliation.

However, if Iran retaliates against Israel or the US (or whoever else is to blame) for this, you can bet they will be bombed and blamed as the aggressors.

Re:Saudi gold

[johnsie]

There is more than one axis of evil in the world. There's US backed regimes in the ME which include Israel and the Saudi dictatorship, Russian backed regimes in the same region like Syria and of course the propped up dictatorships like Honduras in Latin America.

Re:Overly Dramatic Headline

[c]

Stuxnet messed with industrial process controls, and supposedly caused things like centrifuges to spin at self-destructive speeds. Depending on how this new one actually works and what it affects, "violent" might not be as inaccurate as you think.

Re:Overly Dramatic Headline

[Crashmarik]

Elisha Otis has sent assassins to your location.

Re:Saudi gold

[froggyjojodaddy]

Ah, I mis-read your original comment. I thought you were saying they were part of the US' "Axis of Evil" as in North Korea, Iraq etc.

However, I should have read it as "Israel is part of the US backed axis of evil" in the Middle East...

Rumoured Iranian "virus"

[TaleWeaver]

Stuxnet was a worm, not a virus. "Computer worms are similar to viruses in that they replicate functional copies of themselves and can cause the same type of damage. In contrast to viruses, which require the spreading of an infected host file, worms are standalone software and do not require a host program or human help to propagate." cisco.com.

Dude we've been doing this crap since WWII

[rsilvergun]

just not with computers. The shit America's done around the world to destabilize it in the name of our economic interests (oil mostly) is insane. I've lost count of how many Democratically elected governments we've overthrown. By all accounts we just installed a dictator in Brazil (there's strong evidence we helped torpedo their progressive President and paved the way for the far right whack job that just took office). And of course it was us that radicalized Iran. We installed a puppet regime and when the only place the rebels weren't being watched was the Mosques that's where the next rebellion took root, resulting in the current batch of, well, far right whack jobs...

What I'm saying that wrecking shit internationally has a long, long standing history. Doing it with a computer is no more novel than running a taxi cab service or an auction house with a computer.

Hadashot?

[Black Parrot]

Israel's Slashdot?

Or maybe just an editor's confession?

Re:Hadashot?

[Dragonslicer]

Hadash is the Hebrew word for "new". Hadashot literally translates to "news".

Re: But who? Who would purposefully do that? Any w

[Anonymous Coward]

Whataboutism. And perhaps you are aware of this little thing we call 9/11? And all the anti-American bobbing going back long before as well as after. The OP has a point. You do not.

Scary

[raymorris]

Okay now THAT is scary

Re:Overly Dramatic Headline

[thegarbz]

A computer virus may stop your computer from working but its not "violent" - its not going to walk up and punch you.

Before you make that assertion you should research the history of computer related problems which have lead to injury or death.
Remember the last major industrial malware "Triton" was specifically designed to bypass critical safety systems which sounds like it's designed to do something that would often result in a catastrophe.

Iran is not the enemy

[bkmoore]

I'm writing this from the perspective of an American, and I am no fan of Iran. Iran has a terrible religious fundamentalist regime that murders people and exports terror throughout the Middle East, to include attacking Israel. But I am sick and tired of being told by our pols that Iran is our mortal enemy, and represents a grave national security threat that needs to be attacked and destroyed. Especially when those same pols supports a different middle eastern country that has a terrible religious fundamentalist regime that murders people and exports terror throughout the Middle East and occasionally to Lower Manhattan.

It's about nuclear weapons!!! But we support another Moslem nation that also has nuclear weapons, has live-tested them, gone to war with their neighbor multiple times, supported our enemies in Afghanistan, and is coincidentally where we found Osama Bin Laden's hiding place. So Iran can't have nuclear weapons, but the other one can? At least we know who's in charge in Iran. I'm not too sure who's really in charge in that other nuclear-armed Moslem country, it could be the military on Monday and Thursday, the civilians on Tuesday and Wednesday, and the clerics on Friday. They all take the weekend off.

Maybe it's human rights??? But our "allies" just dismembered a journalist and have been waging a criminal bombing campaign in Yemen. No big deal, according to our President, who reminded us that Journalist was a moslem immigrant (green card holder), and then proudly exclaimed how much money our "friends" were spending on weapons, basically putting a price on the head of that journalist, anyone with a green card (including my wife), and all Yemenis. The President never struck me as especially intelligent, but he knew the price of those weapons down to the last nickel, so maybe he's a "stable genius" after all, especially when it comes to people giving him money.

What's the difference? One chants "death to Israel" so much that it has become cliche and supports Hezbollah, lobbing mortars into Israel and occasionally funds a suicide bomber. The other one exports Wahhabism, brainwashing one person at a time, including Mohamad Atta and a few hijackers who came to America and took up flying. The cynic in me believes the difference is one country is good for business, the other is not. I hope some day people will realize Iran is not our enemy and never will be our friend. Israel, Saudi Arabia, and Pakistan are not our "friends" or our "allies", but shouldn't me made into enemies. We need to get realistic about the Middle East and above all else be consistent. Either we're for human rights or against them. But we can no longer have it both ways.

Re:That's not common sense

[fred911]

I would consider a country who inscribed their ICBMs with "Israel should be wiped off the Earth" to be an immediate threat and any means to prevent them from warhead production, (especially passive actions) to not only make sense, but save life and resource.

Re:Overly Dramatic Headline

[Anonymous Coward]

Your argument about politicians complaining about something being an act of war is very weak. You see the USA actually went to war with Iraq over WMD, when they knew they didn't have them. Yes, they talk big about the aggressions against the USA, and say act of war blah blah blah. Don't worry your pretty head, we hack them back just as much, and we aren't going to war with another nuclear power anytime soon. What do you think the CIA's leaked hacking tools are for?

You are very mistaken. If Iran responds to this with hacking and computer viruses they will not be bombed and blamed as aggressors. Oh wait, did you mean if they escalate? Well, uh, then yes, then they would be blamed for escalating. But don't worry, we will blame them no matter what we/they do, and they will similarly blame us.

If you are a small nation surrounded by nations that have tried to annihilate you multiple times in the past, you kind of have to take possible threats seriously, and nukes are a huge threat.

Re:But who? Who would purposefully do that? Any wh

[Applehu Akbar]

"Dear User, I'm sorry, but this PC has now been wiped of all relevant data by the "Stuxnet Eh?" virus. I am really sorry I wiped out all your data. Again... I'm really really sorry, PM Trudeau made me write this, and he is really sorry too!"

And by Canadian law, you forgot to add:
"Cher utilisateur, je suis désolé, mais le virus" Stuxnet Eh? "A effacé de ce PC toutes les données pertinentes. , Le PM Trudeau m'a fait écrire ceci et il est vraiment désolé aussi! "

Re:Overly Dramatic Headline

[Highdude702]

This. Humans are far too greedy not to do this. We will never be a world at peace unfortunately. It would be nice, but I don't see it ever happening. We are all too different.