PDA

View Full Version : Computer expert says US behind Stuxnet worm



AntZ
03-03-2011, 10:06 PM
Computer expert says US behind Stuxnet worm


Mar 3 03:41 PM US/Eastern

AFP


A German computer security expert said Thursday he believes the United States and Israel's Mossad unleashed the malicious Stuxnet worm on Iran's nuclear program.

"My opinion is that the Mossad is involved," Ralph Langner said while discussing his in-depth Stuxnet analysis at a prestigious TED conference in the Southern California city of Long Beach.

"But, the leading source is not Israel... There is only one leading source, and that is the United States."

There has been widespread speculation Israel was behind the Stuxnet worm that has attacked computers in Iran, and Tehran has blamed the Jewish state and the United States for the killing of two nuclear scientists in November and January.

"The idea behind Stuxnet computer worm is really quite simple," Langner said. "We don't want Iran to get the bomb."

The malicious code was crafted to stealthily take control of valves and rotors at an Iranian nuclear plant, according to Langner.

"It was engineered by people who obviously had inside information," he explained. "They probably also knew the shoe size of the operator."

Stuxnet targets computer control systems made by German industrial giant Siemens and commonly used to manage water supplies, oil rigs, power plants and other critical infrastructure.

"The idea here is to circumvent digital data systems, so the human operator could not get there fast enough," Langner said.

"When digital safety systems are compromised, really bad things can happen -- your plant can blow up.

Most Stuxnet infections have been discovered in Iran, giving rise to speculation it was intended to sabotage nuclear facilities there.

The New York Times reported in January that US and Israeli intelligence services collaborated to develop the computer worm to sabotage Iran's efforts to make a nuclear bomb.

Godfather
03-03-2011, 10:12 PM
*sniggers* Siemens... Worms... Sux *sniggers*

Godfather
03-03-2011, 10:12 PM
Fuck I hope they did it though :lol:

I hope it just 404 Errors the fuck out of the Iranian networks :rofl:

AntZ
03-03-2011, 10:16 PM
I heard that it manipulated the centrifuges into damaging or destroying themselves while giving fake "all is fine" reports to the controllers among other things! :clap:

Godfather
03-03-2011, 10:19 PM
I heard that it manipulated the centrifuges into damaging or destroying themselves while giving fake "all is fine" reports to the controllers among other things! :clap:

I heard it was all Obama's idea Anth. What a solid guy. Like Jack Ryan

























:P :dance:

Arkady Renko
03-04-2011, 10:22 AM
Well, regardless of who really came up with stuxnet, I suspect they might have opened Pandora's box. Seeing how the technology can be used against a lot of large industrial installations such as refineries, chemical plants or sewer systems, and knowing how sloppy a lot of people are about IT safety, Stuxnet in the wrong hands could be used for terrorist attacks that would look like something out of "24".


I heard that it manipulated the centrifuges into damaging or destroying themselves while giving fake "all is fine" reports to the controllers among other things! :clap:

yep, that's what I read, too. Apparently the code removed certain safeguards that were supposed to keep the centrifuges from going to fast. If they exceed the maximum revolution rate by more than a few percent, they'll develop a deformity and end up spinning out of the bearings.

Hal-9000
03-04-2011, 11:44 PM
I agree with Arkady's gist...this is an effective method to sabotage a critical installation from working, but where does it stop?


still much better than dropping a bomb and leveling the place..

Deepsepia
03-05-2011, 01:40 AM
Its a very nice story. Its not the first time we've relied on industrial sabotage for strategic purposes-- some thirty years or so ago, when the Soviets were buying Western technology that they couldn't produce, we slipped some pressure control valves for natural gas pipelines with defects into the shipments (these things were controlled exports, so the Soviets weren't supposed to be buying them in the first place, which they knew).

Anyway, the valves get installed . . . and boom. I've heard it said that it was the largest non-nuclear explosion (it was out in Siberia).

Arkady Renko
03-07-2011, 01:06 PM
similar thing happened when some russian spy stole the designs for the concorde plane. Apparently the french secret service had been on to them and fed him a blueprint with several errors. The pirated russian plane design crashed twice when they flew the first prototypes.

AntZ
03-07-2011, 07:02 PM
similar thing happened when some russian spy stole the designs for the concorde plane. Apparently the french secret service had been on to them and fed him a blueprint with several errors. The pirated russian plane design crashed twice when they flew the first prototypes.

Yeah!

I remember that!

One of the design flaws was using less expensive rear tires that can't handle the load or high take off speeds! Guaranteeing that the tires will explode and eventually bringing down the plane! :-s


:-k



:huh: