Stuxnet cyberweapon looks to be one on a production line, researchers say

Stuxnet cyberweapon looks to be one on a production line, researchers say

www.csmonitor.com

First signs that Stuxnet was part of a larger family of malicious software, or malware, came with the discovery in September 2010 of Duqu, a specialized espionage program. Duqu appears to be designed to zero in on industrial secrets related to Stuxnet's target, and its code contains digital fingerprints akin to some in Stuxnet, indicating it was created with some of the same source code. Stuxnet's mission, much of it now decoded, was to wreak havoc on Iran's ability to refine nuclear fuel using centrifuges.

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Interesting... So those that made stuxnet also made duqu...

Duqu stole our drone passwords and whatnot...
Stuxnet messed up irans stuff...

Who is hacking the US and Iran? Do those 2 have a common enemy?

My guess, the CIA. In preparations for nwo... Collaborating with, the uk.

No I have no proof of anything, just a guess.

Denver airport, England's new hq.

Unless its Israel who wants our drones... Not sure why, what do you guys think?





www.csmonitor.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

Maybe it's anonymous they seem to like to do just stuff and see what happens.

Originally posted by SinDefiant
Maybe it's anonymous they seem to like to do just stuff and see what happens.

Most of human invention were done this way.

stuxnet was a mossad (isreali) operation to hamper irans nuclear ambitions
(they want to produce the world nuclear feul not bombs)
the new one is an updated version that spies on irans nuclear industry secrets
also spying on america?
AIPAC already owns america why would they need to hack drones lol
mis-information
it was iran who hacked spy drone (they are among world hacker superpowers china/america)

I am deeply interested in this subject as well. I am not sure what to add at the moment. I don't mean to sound snotty, but I can't imagine how anyone could not realize that stuxnet was and is prototypical for things to come. I am not a professional, but I have been trying to keep up with this stuxnet/SCADA thing and I am floored by the possibilities that the two together represent.

Here is another article related to this that I linked to from slashdot...

Earlier this month, researchers from Kaspersky Lab reached out to the security and programming community in an effort to help solve a mystery related to “Duqu”, the Trojan often referred to as “Son of Stuxnet”, which surfaced in October 2010.

Less than two weeks later, Kaspersky Lab experts now say with a high degree of certainty that the Duqu framework was written using a custom object-oriented extension to C, generally called “OO C” and compiled with Microsoft Visual Studio Compiler 2008.

www.securityweek.com...

Thanks for posting the thread, OP.

X.

This is quite interesting.

It only makes sense, though. IT Security has been battling against what can only be called "the wild west" - outlaws, bandits, and trouble-makers on the internet who just like to take advantage of poorly defended resources.

The inherent response to that is to become more organized, strategic, and tactical in nature. This represents perhaps the first identified strategic cyber 'system' (to say it is 'just' a weapon at this time would be unwise) with the ability to employ tactical weapons.

The initial target of Stuxnet would support a primarily U.S. and or Israeli military origin.

However, given the implications and the function of Duqu (to gather information and security keys potentially to enable other attacks against other systems), this implies a far broader objective than those of a mere state military.

This would be the product of a sophisticated contract cyber strike team. "Cyber-mercenaries," if you will. They gather information and resources to allow them to make reliable statements to their clients (which could be anyone; including governments).

I would hazard to guess that this is more than likely not affiliated with any particular government, but the beginnings of a contract cyber tactics unit.

I can think of several countries with the smartz to pull together such a weapon.....Not the least of which is China.......
They have the capability, and the experience to taylor make such a weapon, as well as a lot to gain from it.....
Imagine selling the drone secrets for oil, and the suxnet to isreal for cash or whatever,and watching the fun.......
With a lot more possibilities down the pike for its reuse......and even the chance of infecting the purchasers networks with duquor something more spcifically targetted....
perhaps even now, the maker is reaping tons of top secrets from the net.....
How did Duqu transmit its intelligence by the way?is there no tag to be traced there?

reply to post by Afraidnomore


Dare I say it ? I guess I may not be able to post due to an internet cyber attack, if it happens you will all know it's simply true. I think it was the ancient jews... smells Israeli to me.

My personal thought on these viruses is that its not a unkown software langauge. I've posted comments on two tech sites and had the post removed.And the post simply said.

VMware exploits used to deliver TinyOS with nesC.
en.wikipedia.org...

Could it be DARPA's TinyOS is the virus? It works in very strange ways. It is event driven. It sends out pings and gets call back from controlers telling the TinyOS where they are at. TinyOS can be broken up into pieces and still function as if it were all together. It can operate on standby power saving mode. Which means it can tell controllers to rewrite but only when the controllers are being used. Hideing its traffic in normal traffic on the network. TinyOS can use many different ways to communicate with a outside party. It sounds like a virus just the way it functions.

nescc.sourceforge.net...

reply to post by JBA2848


If so.... do you have any info on where pieces would hide and how to identify?

reply to post by OldCurmudgeon


It would hide in memory mostly. Using a tiny bit of memory in different places in order to not use much memory. Then it hides it hides its communication with normal communication in order to not use much power. TinyOS can hide in your cellphone.

www.tinyos.net...

When I first read about stuxnet I thought it had to be the Israelis, it just made sense at the time, but now duqu being 1 of what 5 types? Stuxnet being another, and they are targeting opposing sides... It's just lots of fun to speculate as to what's going on, someone mentioned maybe china sold them the tech... That kinda makes sense too...
Someone mentioned anon may have made this... that's an interesting idea... But I think they'd own up to it, if they are anon then it could be anyone then right, just as the name implies, so they wouldn't get in trouble... So why not claim it?
Someone mentioned a non government paying hackers... Now that's even scarier than a government (debatable, but let's not at the mo) sponsored one... Because that leads to all kinds of speculation... Like who would want to hurt us? Not just countries but... Nwo.. Or the nazis in south america? How many nuclear plants do we have? What would it be like to have let's say a third of them melting down?

reply to post by Afraidnomore


Don't forget that right after Kaspersky Lab Antivirus found STUXnet and said they were investigating it to find out where it came from his son was kidnapped. So I would say its heavy hitters and world wide who did this. And they can reach anywhere.

abcnews.go.com...

reply to post by JBA2848


And so it really leaves to obvious identifying files, almost a virtual OS?

reply to post by JBA2848


Duqu's design, and mission, however, implies that they do have limits.

Kidnappings are not difficult to arrange. Plenty of former military personnel from many different nations have the training and awareness to abduct civilians who go about rather blissfully unaware of their environment. Most of society has absolutely no clue how vulnerable it is to an attack. All one has to do in many societies is look like they know what they are doing - and most people will leave them alone.

Duqu was designed to collect information, keys, login info, etc. That means they do not have the power or resources to obtain that information on much of a scale from various manufacturers.

I would speculate that it is a very skilled and educated group of people headed by someone with military experience (and IT background - It's difficult to have a 'vision' of a business you don't really understand). It's possible this group could have its origins in some nation's defense research (such as a number of its key personnel having met in a prior or related Cyber War/Defense project).

In either case - you are looking at a system that is even more cost-effective than bio weapons with low investment capital necessary to start.

So low that, even though I suggested a 'mercenary hacker' business; we could also be looking at someone's idea of charity. With enough resources - one could easily find him or herself able to develop and utilize such a clandestine weapon as a sort of Vigilante.

As for Anonymous - no. This is just not the style of Anonymous. Anonymous is the equivalent of a cyber protest of disruption... maybe even a "cyber riot" if you consider some of their more destructive activities. Their entire mission is to garner attention to issues and "wake people up."

This "Stuxnet/Duqu/?" framework is an efficient precision weapon designed to disrupt industrial control systems, and to do so covertly.

It's supposed to shut things down and give people little indication as to why their multi-million dollar industrial setup is not functioning properly (or self-destructing).

Someone asked where did the data go... I read somewhere, sorry for no link, that it went to a server in India.

Now whenever I call for tech support I usually get some one in India... I'm wondering if perhaps the government outsourced their tech support and someone over there could have been compromised...

Or someone clicked on a PDF.... Who knows.

What would you speculate the other 3 variants are? Stux, duqu.... Maybe Iran has a variant that can remote control a signal hijacked drone? And the 3 sides, Iran, Israel and the us are being messed with by the same group... S let's say the 3rd was the hijack tool... What about the other 2?

Maybe one will be used to steal bank accounts? And another to used the account info to funnel the money into another account?

Trying to wrap my head around who would gain from this stuff.

I find this photo of the spread interesting.



Almost looks like a satellite orbital path.

Looking into TinyOS some more. I find OPNET library interesting. TinyOS seems to be able to be used on anything. Radios satellites wireless wired networks virtual networks cell phones antennas. And I notice the word discrete very oftten in the descriptions of any software tied to TinyOS.

OPNET provides the largest, most comprehensive library of open source, discrete event simulation models for the information technology industry.

www.opnet.com...

people.bu.edu...