Super Computer Virus Cripples Iran's Nuke Efforts

[Devildog]

I hope someone doesn't do this to us!

This thought has been considered by the military for well over 15 years. They have spent more money in this area than we will ever know about.

[Coach McGuirk]

Also, it said the facility was underground with not outside connections to the world but then later on it said the virus did a "phone home" type of thing to servers in malaysia. How is that possible with no outside connections to the world?

My spidey sense is tingling that this article may be exaggerating a bit.

Same way it got in. Some one takes work home, the virus reports whats going on. Seriously, this stuff is scary when you think about it for more than a second.

[hostile]

That would be a hard script to write, but somebody should do it. That's good stuff.

I was thinking the same thing. Very interesting read and well written so that someone (me) who doesn't understand computer's real well could see what was going on.

[Uncle Ted]

Also, it said the facility was underground with not outside connections to the world but then later on it said the virus did a "phone home" type of thing to servers in malaysia. How is that possible with no outside connections to the world?

My spidey sense is tingling that this article may be exaggerating a bit.

The worm, Stuxnet, would try to "phone home" to a couple of servers. If it could not phone home it would use a peer-to-peer network protocol to talk to other infected computers on the same LAN to see if needed to update itself by comparing version numbers. So as new infected computers were brought in and connected to the "air gap" secured LAN it would essentially get "letters from home".

A detailed technical description of this worm is given in the following:

http://www.symantec.com/content/en/us/enterprise/media/security_response/whitepapers/w32_stuxnet_dossier.pdf

[Uncle Ted]

I'm guessing it was Israel. I doubt we would have the balls to do it.

It could have been Israel. One clue is the Windows registry value used by the worm: "19790509". This seems to be the date May 5, 1979 which happens to be the day that Persian Jew Habib Elghanain was executed in Iran for spying for Israel. Also, the word "myrtus" was found which possibly connects Israel as well. Of course, someone could have planted these clues intentionally to blame Israel. This seems like something the NSA, for example, would do.

[San Juan Sun]

I don't know much about cyberwarfare, so I looked it up on Wikipedia. They had a list of the various acts of cyber war by nation-states. It was incredible and scary.

[EuropeanFootballMale]

This has been a really interesting story to follow. It would be fun to know who did it, but that won't happen. The following were written by Bruce Schneier and are interesting. Especially reading through the comments.

http://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2010/10/stuxnet.html

http://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2010/11/stuxnet_news.html#comments

[PaloAltoCougar]

I really enjoyed the article and am looking forward to learning more, and given my meager technical knowledge I have much to learn.

Recognizing my Gospel Doctrine class was suffering from Ezekiel fatigue (I blame the instructor, not the author), I began yesterday's lesson with a dramatic and somewhat embellished (hey, poetic license is warranted if the alternative is classroom slumber) recounting of the story. I then went all Hallmark Card in my presentation, noting that the adversary is every bit as adept at breaching spiritual firewalls and security systems, unless we keep them strong and updated. With the cheesy analogy (but the class loved it, so my shame is lessened), I fear many in the class now regard an Ensign subscription as similar to the one they have with Symantec or McAfee. Less expensive, to boot!

[Color Me Badd Fan]

This story is both very cool and pretty hilarious. I can just imagine Iran's best and brightest along with Mahmoud Durka Durka running around like the Three Stooges for a solid year while all the enrichment spinning thingys were going haywire.

Just a subtle reminder to these assholes that the West still owns them while they're trying to figure out how to do something that we pulled off almost 70 years ago.

[EuropeanFootballMale]

http://nyti.ms/ea1faP

[Katy Lied]

http://nyti.ms/ea1faP

I read this latest unveiling of more information about the stuxnet virus. Interesting to find out a lot of the worm was developed in Idaho. I didn't even know the Idaho National Laboratory has existed in sleepy lil Idaho Falls since 1950. They are doing some crazy things there, like mobilizing bacteria to build a cement containment for radioactive waste in ground soil, and developing solar panels that work at night.

[SCcoug]

Wired has a fascinating write up on the teams that uncovered stuxnet.

http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2011/07/how-digital-detectives-deciphered-stuxnet/all/1

[Coach McGuirk]

Tired of Stuxnet?

Time for flame.

Moscow-based Kaspersky Lab ZAO said the "Flame" virus was unprecedented both in terms of its size and complexity, possessing the ability to turn infected computers into all-purpose spying machines that can even suck information out of nearby cell phones.
"This is on a completely different level," Kaspersky researcher Roel Schouwenberg said in a telephone interview Tuesday. "It can be used to spy on everything that a user is doing."................
So far, Flame appears focused on espionage. The virus can activate a computer's audio systems to eavesdrop on Skype calls or office chatter, for example. It can also take screenshots, log keystrokes, and – in one of its more novel functions_ steal data from Bluetooth-enabled cell phones.

http://www.ksl.com/?sid=20608060&nid...&s_cid=queue-3