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The Stuxnet computer virus has been labelled as the world's "first cyber superweapon." It is speculated that it was first designed to attack Iran's nuclear facilities. However, it has found its way to millions of computers in China.
Imagine a computer virus that allows the hacker full access of critical systems. The virus can literally make factory boilers explode or make a nuclear power plant malfunction. Experts now fear that the Stuxnet computer worm has infected millions of computers around China, according to Agence-France Presse.
The Stuxnet virus – malware that copies itself and sends itself onto other computers on a network – was originally designed to sabotage plants and attack industrial systems. It is believed that it was first designed to be used as an attack against Iran’s nuclear facilities. Instead, the worm may now obliterate China’s national security because industries may collapse.
Tehran this week secretly appealed to a number of computer security experts in West and East Europe with offers of handsome fees for consultations on ways to exorcize the Stuxnet worm spreading havoc through the computer networks and administrative software of its most important industrial complexes and military command centers. debkafile's intelligence and Iranian sources report Iran turned for outside help after local computer experts failed to remove the destructive virus.
None of the foreign experts has so far come forward because Tehran refuses to provide precise information on the sensitive centers and systems under attack and give the visiting specialists the locations where they would need to work. They were not told whether they would be called on to work outside Tehran or given access to affected sites to study how they function and how the malworm managed to disable them. Iran also refuses to give out data on the changes its engineers have made to imported SCADA (Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition) systems, mostly from Germany.
The impression debkafile sources gained Wednesday, Sept. 29 from talking to European computer experts approached for aid was that the Iranians are getting desperate. Not only have their own attempts to defeat the invading worm failed, but they made matters worse: The malworm became more aggressive and returned to the attack on parts of the systems damaged in the initial attack.
One expert said: "The Iranians have been forced to realize that they would be better off not 'irritating' the invader because it hits back with a bigger punch."
Looking beyond Iran's predicament, he wondered whether the people responsible for planting Stuxnet in Iran - and apparently continuing to offload information from its sensitive systems - have the technology for stopping its rampage. "My impression," he said, "is that somebody outside Iran has partial control at least on its spread. Can this body stop malworm in its tracks or kill it? We don't have that information at present, he said.
As it is, the Iranian officials who turned outside for help were described by another of the experts they approached as alarmed and frustrated. It has dawned on them that the trouble cannot be waved away overnight but is around for the long haul. Finding a credible specialist with the magic code for ridding them of the cyber enemy could take several months. After their own attempts to defeat Stuxnet backfired, all the Iranians can do now is to sit back and hope for the best, helpless to predict the worm's next target and which other of their strategic industries will go down or be robbed of its secrets next.
While Tehran has given out several conflicting figures on the systems and networks struck by the malworm - 30,000 to 45,000 industrial units - debkafile's sources cite security experts as putting the figure much higher, in the region of millions. If this is true, then this cyber weapon attack on Iran would be the greatest ever.
The Stuxnet virus – malware that copies itself and sends itself onto other computers on a network – was originally designed to sabotage plants and attack industrial systems. It is believed that it was first designed to be used as an attack against Iran’s nuclear facilities. Instead, the worm may now obliterate China’s national security because industries may collapse.
Originally posted by anglodemonicmatrix
reply to post by Ben81
Id forget the Palestinians starting a war Ben,neither Egypt,Syria or Jordan is going to fight on their behalf,Israel however may come into conflict with Iran especially via their proxy army Hezbullah on the Lebanon border,but that wont start a world war.There are local hot spots the US has been bombing in Yemen and US policy in the area hinges on the Saudi Royal family staying in power but either of these wont start a world war.
Originally posted by RadicalGnostic
reply to post by Ben81
First of all, let me say that Stuxnet only runs on the Windows operating system. If you're running Windows, be extremely cautious. I run Kubuntu, so these things don't trouble me.
Before you fear this worm interfering with US Gov't computers, NSA (National Security Agency) runs Security Enhanced Linux. Systems based on the Unix kernel are not in any danger. The same applies to Mac.
I have a feeling that antivirus software will recognize the worm, but will be unable to remove it. It does make sense to design an attack that could not cripple the NSA to be most effective.
None of this surprises me. I knew it was only a matter of time.
Originally posted by whoshotJR
reply to post by Ben81
So you work in IT and can fix it, but Iran and china are doomed?
Lets make a choice C) ...
USA military budget cut by at least 75%
the rest to defend America if its attacked ... why would someone attack a powerfull state like the USA ...
USA have NUKES ... oh .. its weird Aliens have start to deactivate many US nukes ...
do they know about the october surprise or what ??
Originally posted by Ben81
i agree with you ..Iran dont have very advanced system for virus protection
china does ...
THERE IS NO COINCIDENCE IN THIS ATTACK ... to Pandora box have been opened
first backlash ... once china find out whos behind that virus .. War will happen
Iran + China against Israel and the USA .. it will not end good
sadly it has to worsen to get better
lets all pray that no country will attack no country
next time that happen it will englobe earth in conflicts
Originally posted by trailertrash
Anyone really concerned about this worm might consider keeping their computers off line. Another preventative measure is to quit using MS products. I am using a version of Linux right now that is only 126 megabytes. That's the whole OS size. The hard drive is not even mounted and is not used unless I direct it to come to life. The OS loads entirely into RAM and when I am finished surfing and shut down, the entire session plus that copy of the OS is erased. Each time you boot up a fresh copy of the OS is used and then tossed later. So much for worms.
Really folks, it works.
Originally posted by RadicalGnostic
reply to post by Ben81
First of all, let me say that Stuxnet only runs on the Windows operating system. If you're running Windows, be extremely cautious. I run Kubuntu, so these things don't trouble me.