Stuxnet is new and being described by many. The most sophisticated malware ever is probably the most common description. It was been seen by computer experts around the world. These experts think it is one of the greatest technologies created. The Stuxnet tool is being said it can sabotage with a search and destroy method. The cybersecurity experts say that only a nation-state, not a band of rogue hackers, would have the time, cash and talent to develop a worm with the complexity of Stuxnet. Info hacked typically is data on factories, power plants and water systems as Stuxnet travels. It also doesn’t travel via the web as it is spread through thumb drives and printer spoolers instead. The Stuxnet is expected to be targeting the Bushehr nuclear power plant. This is because it has been showing up in Iran the most often.
Was Bushehr reactor sabotaged by Stuxnet?
Stuxnet was first detected in June. The Christian Science Monitor reports that the worm’s complexity and encryption has dumbfounded computer security specialists. Stuxnet is the only software discovered that can do what it can. No other program can steal specific details about power plants, electric grids, chemical plants and factories. Cybersecurity researcher Ralph Langler told the Monitor that Stuxnet is a precision, military-grade cyber missile deployed to seek and destroy one high value target. The Target, as outlined by Langer, was the Bushehr nuclear power plant in Iran. He believes the target was hit already. Bushehr was expected to start up in August however then was delayed for reasons that are unknown.
Stuxnet and just how it works
Stuxnet has already infected around 45,000 computer systems around the world. The Daily Mail explains that computer systems were hit by Stuxnet that aren’t connected to the web. They aren’t connected to the web for security purposes. Instead, it infects PCs running Microsoft Windows via USB thumb drives. The PC does not need anybody to key in any kind of code for it to work. Stuxnet looks for any Siemens software running control systems that are industrial once in computer. Industrial machinery is given new instructions that are dangerous once it finds the software. Experts say Stuxnet is capable of taking control of key processes to set off a sequence that makes an entire system self-destruct.
Stuxnet launches new era of cyber warfare
Stuxnet has set off alarms because of the complexity its code and the wide array of different techniques bundled into one package. Liam O’Murchu of Symantec, who tracked the worm since it was detected, told BBC News that Stuxnet uses lots of new techniques never seen before that allowed it to spread. The worm exploits several previously unknown, un-patched Windows vulnerabilities. The project for Stuxnet had to are a well-planned, well-funded, large project, according to O’Murchu. Langer explains that Stuxnet has lots of insider knowledge. It was needed to create a sabotage attack like this. ”This isn’t some hacker sitting within the basement of his parents’ house,” he said. It had to be more. “To me, seems like the resources needed to stage this attack point to a nation state.”
Further reading
Christian Science Monitor
csmonitor.com/USA/2010/0921/Stuxnet-malware-is-weapon-out-to-destroy-Iran-s-Bushehr-nuclear-plant
Daily Mail
dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1314580/Stuxnet-worm-targeted-Iranian-nuclear-power-station-sophisticated-virus-attack-ever.html?ITO=1490
BBC News
bbc.co.uk/news/technology-11388018
