Posted on 09/22/2010 2:03:14 AM PDT by abbyg55
Cyber security experts say they have identified the world's first known cyber super weapon designed specifically to destroy a real-world target – a factory, a refinery, or just maybe a nuclear power plant. (snip) Still, he suspects that the Bushehr plant may already have been wrecked by Stuxnet. Bushehr's expected startup in late August has been delayed, he notes, for unknown reasons. (One Iranian official blamed the delay on hot weather.)
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
Really? A cyber “super weapon”? LOL A true super weapon wouldn’t have ever been detected. Sounds like a hacker job — a good one, but still a hacker job — to me. Best guess? The Russian contractors brought it with them to Iran, but the Russian coders screwed up and it got out. After all, Russia needs those hard oil dollars, but even they aren’t crazy enough to want to see a nuclear Iran.
IOW, smells like an inept FSB op...
Did you read the article? Here's a few excerpts:
"Stuxnet's arrival heralds something blindingly new: a cyber weapon created to cross from the digital realm to the physical world – to destroy something."
"Stuxnet surfaced in June and, by July, was identified as a hypersophisticated piece of malware probably created by a team working for a nation state, say cyber security experts."
"This is a 100 percent sabotage attack... He shows step by step how Stuxnet operates as a guided cyber missile... Stuxnet appeared to be able to take control of the automated factory control systems it had infected – and do whatever it was programmed to do with them. That was mischievous and dangerous."
Stuxnet has the cyberworld in a tizzy. Doesn't sound like a botched hacker job to me. But then I read the whole article.
Control rods out, cooling system to off position...
This does seem a tad more sophisticated than leaving Iran a hot, smoking, radioactive ruin...
Are you prevented from posting the whole article?
FWIW 90% of FReepers comment on what’s posted... juss sayin’....
From FR's CopyrightList link on homepage: "These sites must be excerpted and linked only... csmonitor.com" (this is the Christian Science Monitor's site).
If FReepers choose not to read the whole article, they should be prepared to be called on it when their comments come across as ill-informed. Sorry for the flame - it's not directed at you. This is a pet peeve of mine. It's this mentality of "post the whole article because I can't be bothered to click on the link" that has gotten Jim into legal hot water with the likes of Righthaven et al.
Yeah, BUT if the program were able to start a Chernobyl type meltdown it would be a good thing there too.
The author isn’t all that “up” on cyber/physical world crossovers. I saw video two years ago presented at an information security conference by an engineer from the Idaho National Laboratory that demonstrated an attack against a computer-controlled diesel generator that showed the generator engine nearly rip itself off its mounts.
Also, Tsar Bomba was a superweapon too; I defy you to show me that that would not have been detected had it been used.
The basic question regarding such weapons is whether or not they have a direction from which to attack. If the Iranian system is disconnected from the internet, that path goes away. The diesel generator demo was a simulation of a system that is governed by signals passed to it over the internet, like a great deal of the U.S. infrastructure.
Of course, the smart Mossad move would be to simultaneously upload the attack from a computer inside the nuke plant, a la “Independence Day”.
Good tag line
Malware?
Maybe somebody else nailed them for copyright infringement ~ should be easy enough ~ or did Righthaven mess with the wrong people (read that "Mob") and now their principals are busy trying to protect their loved ones.
I would be so disappointed to find the "Mob" threatening them ~ free speech and all eh!
It occurs to me that such a program has TWO targets. The first is the obvious (intended) target: the Bushehr nuclear facility. The second, however, is as a warning for any nation or company that might help Iran. The message is: help them at your own peril.
i saw another report about a year ago that was also very scary. Because power companies can buy, sell, and redirect power over the grid through internet commands, a super-hacker could essentially shut down the grid, and in the worst case, destroy power generation stations.
I would expect that OBAMA will use this as an excuse to punish Israel and show the whole world that the United States is willing to hold their closest allies accountable when they 'step out of line'.
I noticed that too. Maybe they're a victim of their own "success," with fewer (if any) people linking to LVRJ articles due to all the publicity.
I hope there's also been a corresponding decrease in hits on LVRJ's site. Righthaven may be the party bringing the suits, but LVRJ is willingly (eagerly?) selling them the copyrights post facto. Pox on both their houses.
I was kinda' hoping for a Mob hit or something, but it's just a judge making the whole business FAR MORE EXPENSIVE for Right Haven ~ hey, that's what the Mob does ~ sells you PROTECTION!
So what else is new? Israel has been Obama's punching bag since day one.
The window for Israel to launch airstrikes has passed. Attacking from the inside with Stuxnet is a stroke of genius. Several countries have the knowhow to do something of this magnitude, per the article. But only Israel has the incentive since their very existence is at stake if Iran develops nuclear weapons. Go Bibi!
I saw that too. The judge ruling in favor of the defendant was appointed by Obama earlier this year. Obama finally did something right!
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