Stuxnet is new and being described by . The most sophisticated malware ever is one of the most common description. Computer security experts throughout the world are amazed by it. Search and destroy is apparently what the Stuxnet does. It will sabotage anything it heads for. Only a nation-state would have enough time, cash and talent to ever create something as complex as the Stuxnet rather than rogue hackers, states cybersecurity specialists. Stuxnet looks for specific software programs, such as factories, power plants and water systems, via thumb drives and printer spoolers instead of spreading on the internet. Many believe it was meant specifically to target the Bushehr nuclear power plant as Stuxnet has shown up in Iran quite a bit.
Is the Bushehr reactor the sabotage Stuxnet is looking for?
June was the very first time Stuxnet was detected. Computer security specialists figure out the complexity and encryption of the thing, reports the Christian Science Monitor. Stuxnet is the only software found 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 really a precision, military-grade cyber missile deployed to seek and destroy one high value target. Langler is pretty sure that Iran’s Bushehr nuclear power plant was the target and has already been hit. Bushehr was expected to start up in August but then was postponed for reasons that are unknown.
Stuxnet and the way it works
In the world, Stuxnet has already infected computer systems. It has hit at least 45,000 systems so far. Computer systems not connected to the web for security purposes are what the worm targeted, as outlined by the Daily Mail. Any PCs running Microsoft Windows is in danger. It is spread via USB thumb drives to these computers. No clicking or keying is required for Stuxnet to hijack a PC. Once embedded, Stuxnet seeks out software developed by Siemens that runs industrial control systems. It attacks by reprogramming software to give industrial machinery new, supposedly dangerous instructions. Stuxnet is expected for making systems self-destruct as it takes control of key processes.
Stuxnet starts cyber warfare
Alarms have been hit with Stuxnet. This is because its code is so complex along with the many different techniques in it. BBC News explained that Liam O’Murchu of Symantec, discovering the worm and tracking it down, states that Stuxnet works by spreading with new techniques never seen. The worm works with vulnerabilities in Windows. These weren’t known before this. The project for Stuxnet had to have been a well-planned, well-funded, large project, according to O’Murchu. In an analysis on his site, Langer said Stuxnet is a directed sabotage attack involving heavy insider knowledge. ”This is not some hacker sitting in the basement of his parents’ house,” he explained clearly. “To me, it appears that the resources needed to stage this attack point to a nation state.”
Additional 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
