Is the Nobel Peace Prize Committee Taking Notes?
From "Worm Was Perfect for Sabotaging Centrifuges," a story in today's New York Times:
Experts dissecting the computer worm suspected of being aimed at Iran's nuclear program have determined that it was precisely calibrated in a way that could send nuclear centrifuges wildly out of control...
The paternity of the worm is still in dispute, but in recent weeks officials from Israel have broken into wide smiles when asked whether Israel was behind the attack...
Hackers in Israel, it now appears, have proven more effective in undermining the Iranian nuclear program than all the diplomacy of Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, and the countless, dreary officials of the European Union.
I'm now in favor of earmarks--or, rather, of one earmark. Under "Israel, aid to," the next Pentagon budget should include a crate of champagne.
- Comment (12)
- · Quote
- · UnfollowFollow (2)
Comments:
Jun '10
Re: Is the Nobel Peace Prize Committee Taking Notes?
If the theory is right, it was also a message. "You might attack us someday, but you can't surprise us. We know exactly what you're doing."
Aug '10
Re: Is the Nobel Peace Prize Committee Taking Notes?
This is the future of war, and though it's in its infancy, it's going on all around us. Robots, pilotless fighters, micro-machines, enormous and elaborate Trojan horse viruses....
The world of science fiction has arrived:
http://wiredforwar.pwsinger.com/
Aug '10
Re: Is the Nobel Peace Prize Committee Taking Notes?
Peter,
You're not thinking like a real Nobel committee member. You should understand that a minimally destructive solution to keeping nuclear proliferation away from a shaky regime of theocrats and demagogues is "not helpful" insofar as a serious probability of turning the greater Tel Aviv area into obsidian would have been quite beneficial in giving the Israelis incentives to arrive at a just and permanent negotiated settlement with the Palestinians and any other stakeholders regarding the occupied territories.
Nov '10
Re: Is the Nobel Peace Prize Committee Taking Notes?
This begs the question of whether or not the worm succeeded in sending centrifuges wildly out of control?
May '10
Re: Is the Nobel Peace Prize Committee Taking Notes?
What I don't understand is why a nuclear centrifuge would be connected to the internet.
Aug '10
Re: Is the Nobel Peace Prize Committee Taking Notes?
They probably weren't. The speculation is that the virus was inserted with USB keys, either accidentally by sloppy workers breaching security or deliberately by saboteurs cooperating with the US and/or Israelis.
May '10
Re: Is the Nobel Peace Prize Committee Taking Notes?
'In a spooky flourish, Mr. Albright said in the interview, the worm ends the attack with a command to restore the current to the perfect operating frequency for the centrifuges — which, by that time, would presumably be destroyed.
“It’s striking how close it is to the standard value,” he said.'
I'm of two minds about all this. As someone who helps manage a web server and knows what an amateur hacker can do as the result of one careless mistake, I'm terrified at the thought of an expertly crafted virus near a nuclear anything. However, in this specific instance it's pretty doggone great.
May '10
Re: Is the Nobel Peace Prize Committee Taking Notes?
What I love is how "the Jews" must be in the heads of the mullahs. So much of the pathologies of that part of the world amount to a foot-stomping inferiority complex, and this incident feeds the frustration and paranoia and low self-esteem of the nuts in Tehran. Fun, and maybe useful.
Aug '10
Re: Is the Nobel Peace Prize Committee Taking Notes?
anon_academic
They probably weren't. The speculation is that the virus was inserted with USB keys, either accidentally by sloppy workers breaching security or deliberately by saboteurs cooperating with the US and/or Israelis. · Nov 19 at 1:46pm
It's likely that the facility is networked somehow. Probably not directly connected to the internet, but another facility that is networked with the centrifuge site may have access to the internet. Who knows really. But, get the worm on the internal network and then the worm could move around to the different pieces of machinery. The centrifuges probably receive operation commands from some system. If they aren't isolated (which it appears they aren't) then it would be just a matter of changing what the control program sends to the centrifuges. The article says specific industrial machinery was targeted so they knew what to hit and its vulnerabilities. That's my best guess as a programmer.
I had to help get a worm off a company network once. Pain in the rear, that was.
Re: Is the Nobel Peace Prize Committee Taking Notes?
As I suspected, there are a lot of Ricochet members with a lot more technical knowledge than I'll ever have. But generally speak, you all seem to find the story plausible.
As long as we had to rely on Obama to stop the Iranians, I was feeling jittery. But Israeli hackers? Tonight I'll sleep like a baby.
May '10
Re: Is the Nobel Peace Prize Committee Taking Notes?
Steven and anon_academic, y'all have got me thinking about one of my favorite films, The Hunt for Red October. The Soviet sub commander, Ramius, turns his submarine into a torpedo's path, forcing the torpedo to hit before its safety measures allow it to detonate.
Jack Ryan: "So that's it?"
Ramius: "Not quite. Right now, [the enemy sub commander] is removing the safety measures from all torpedoes. He won't make the same mistake twice."
This computer worm was a temporary solution. Right now, governments around the world, including Iran, are taking measures to avoid this sort of thing in the future.
Aug '10
Re: Is the Nobel Peace Prize Committee Taking Notes?
That's very true. There are always vulnerabilities. Some easier than others. The hackers, whoever they may be, can always go after something else. Hopefully they were smart enough to leave something behind to aid them in any future cyber-attacks.
Until those sites are permanently shut down (voluntarily or through force) it's only a reprieve.