Worm Stuxnet U. S. Cyber attack on Iran's Nukes?

A senior expert on the protection of industry and infrastructure cyber-attacks, said the Financial Times that the computer worm that surfaced over a year ago may well have been a deliberate attempt by the U.S. government of Iran's nuclear plant primary destruction.


The worm Stuxnet was wanted for months, but the design is so complex that safety experts are still unable to say with certainty that he or she was created to attack.

The worm uses the gaps in Windows operating systems (Microsoft has since corrected) very specific Siemens software used to operate industrial machinery to attack, reports the FT.

Ralph Langer, an expert on the protection of industrial systems, closed at a conference in Maryland this week that the worm can not just software Siemens, but specifically to a "nuclear facility Iran's controversial design, the the newspaper said.

The report did not specify which of the Iran nuclear Langner suspect was the target of attacks, but the reference to a controversy makes it likely that the facility at Natanz - which Iran imported most of its uranium despite international demands for the activity power - is in question.

Computer security firm Symantec, said the FT that Iran has been exposed to infection by Stuxnet much more than any other country. There was no indication of where, exactly, these infections have occurred.

Another unusual feature of the worm Stuxnet, according to experts who spoke to the FT, is the first virus that is apparently meant to be physical damage systems outside of a computer network or computer.

"While the cyber-attacks against computer networks has slowed or stopped communicating in countries like Estonia and Georgia, Stuxnet the first to the physical destruction and announced a new era of cyber war," said the article was published by the front page of the FT on Friday.

Siemens, which is a very hardware and software to Iran for its nuclear program, told the FT his customers with a solution to the worm Stuxnet.

It is not clear in the article as the experts believe that the virus still a threat to Iran's nuclear program, or industrial facilities using the Siemens software around the world.

The FT said the complexity of the virus has led experts "a highly organized team behind Stuxnet to believe - probably a government. CBS News