|
kalikshama -> RE: Cyberattacks against Iran (6/1/2012 9:24:18 AM)
|
Is the US finally admitting involvement for Stuxnet?
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/01/world/middleeast/obama-ordered-wave-of-cyberattacks-against-iran.html?_r=1&smid=fb-share
...Mr. Obama, according to participants in the many Situation Room meetings on Olympic Games, was acutely aware that with every attack he was pushing the United States into new territory, much as his predecessors had with the first use of atomic weapons in the 1940s, of intercontinental missiles in the 1950s and of drones in the past decade. He repeatedly expressed concerns that any American acknowledgment that it was using cyberweapons — even under the most careful and limited circumstances — could enable other countries, terrorists or hackers to justify their own attacks.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stuxnet
Stuxnet is a computer worm discovered in June 2010 that was created by the United States and Israel to attack Iran's nuclear facilities.[1] It initially spreads via Microsoft Windows, and targets Siemens industrial software and equipment. While it is not the first time that hackers have targeted industrial systems,[2] it is the first discovered malware that spies on and subverts industrial systems,[3] and the first to include a programmable logic controller (PLC) rootkit.[4][5]
It is also believed to be the first sustained effort by one country to destroy another’s infrastructure through computer attacks. In June 2012 The New York Times revealed that the program used to sabotage the computer systems at Iran’s nuclear facilities was developed by the United States with the help of Israeli intelligence.[6]
The program used to sabotage the computer systems at Iran’s nuclear facilities which carried the Stuxnet malware was known as "Olympic Games". Part of it became public after it accidentally unleashed the Stuxnet worm across the global internet.
The worm initially spreads indiscriminately, but includes a highly specialized malware payload that is designed to target only Siemens supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) systems that are configured to control and monitor specific industrial processes.[7][8] Stuxnet infects PLCs by subverting the Step-7 software application that is used to reprogram these devices.[9][6]
Different variants of Stuxnet targeted five Iranian organizations,[10] with the probable target widely suspected to be uranium enrichment infrastructure in Iran;[11][12][6] Symantec noted in August 2010 that 60% of the infected computers worldwide were in Iran.[13] Siemens stated on 29 November that the worm has not caused any damage to its customers,[14] but the Iran nuclear program, which uses embargoed Siemens equipment procured secretly, has been damaged by Stuxnet.[15][16] Kaspersky Lab concluded that the sophisticated attack could only have been conducted "with nation-state support".[17] This was further supported by the F-Secure's chief researcher Mikko Hyppönen who commented in a Stuxnet FAQ, "That's what it would look like, yes".[18] It has been speculated that Israel[19] and the United States may have been involved.[20][21]
...Experts believe that Stuxnet required the largest and costliest development effort in malware history.[25] Its many capabilities would have required a team of people to program, in-depth knowledge of industrial processes, and an interest in attacking industrial infrastructure.[3][9] Eric Byres, who has years of experience maintaining and troubleshooting Siemens systems, told Wired that writing the code would have taken many man-months, if not years.[34] Symantec estimates that the group developing Stuxnet would have consisted of anywhere from five to thirty people, and would have taken six months to prepare.[56][25] The Guardian, the BBC and The New York Times all claimed that (unnamed) experts studying Stuxnet believe the complexity of the code indicates that only a nation-state would have the capabilities to produce it.[11][56][57] The self-destruct and other safeguards within the code imply that a Western government was responsible, with lawyers evaluating the worm's ramifications.[25] Software security expert Bruce Schneier condemned the 2010 news coverage of Stuxnet as hype, however, stating that it was almost entirely based on speculation.[58] But after subsequent research, Schneier stated in 2012 that "we can now conclusively link Stuxnet to the centrifuge structure at the Natanz nuclear enrichment lab in Iran".[59]
[edit]Iran as target
Ralph Langner, the researcher who identified that Stuxnet infected PLCs,[6] first speculated publicly in September 2010 that the malware was of Israeli origin, and that it targeted Iranian nuclear facilities.[60] However Langner more recently, in a TED Talk recorded in February 2011, stated that, "My opinion is that the Mossad is involved but that the leading force is not Israel. The leading force behind Stuxnet is the cyber superpower—there is only one; and that's the United States."[61] Kevin Hogan, Senior Director of Security Response at Symantec, reported that the majority of infected systems were in Iran (about 60%),[62] which has led to speculation that it may have been deliberately targeting "high-value infrastructure" in Iran[11] including either the Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant or the Natanz nuclear facility.[34][63][64] Langner called the malware "a one-shot weapon" and said that the intended target was probably hit,[65] although he admitted this was speculation.[34] Another German researcher, Frank Rieger, was the first to speculate that Natanz was the target.[25]
|
|
|
|
