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A new computer virus using "nearly identical" parts of the cyber superweapon Stuxnet has been detected on computer systems in Europe and is believed to be a precursor to a new Stuxnet-like attack, a major U.S.-based cyber security company said today. Stuxnet was a highly sophisticated computer worm that was discovered last year and was thought to have successfully targeted and disrupted systems at a nuclear enrichment plant in Iran. At the time, U.S. officials said the worm's unprecedented complexity and potential ability to physically sabotage industrial control systems -- which run everything from water plants to the power grid in the U.S. and in many countries around the world -- marked a new era in cyber warfare.
"Right now it's in the reconnaissance stage, you could say," Symantec Senior Director for Security Technology and Response, Gerry Egan, told ABC News. "[But] there's a clear indication an attack is being planned."