Somewhere Out There, the Secret-Squirrel Sci-Fi Stuxnet has Found its Target
Very cool--so long as it's on our side.
Stuxnet malware is 'weapon' out to destroy ... Iran's Bushehr nuclear plant?
Cyber security experts say they have identified the world's first known cyber super weapon designed specifically to destroy a real-world target – a factory, a refinery, or just maybe a nuclear power plant.
The cyber worm, called Stuxnet, has been the object of intense study since its detection in June. As more has become known about it, alarm about its capabilities and purpose have grown. Some top cyber security experts now say Stuxnet's arrival heralds something blindingly new: a cyber weapon created to cross from the digital realm to the physical world – to destroy something.
At least one expert who has extensively studied the malicious software, or malware, suggests Stuxnet may have already attacked its target – and that it may have been Iran's Bushehr nuclear power plant, which much of the world condemns as a nuclear weapons threat.
The appearance of Stuxnet created a ripple of amazement among computer security experts. Too large, too encrypted, too complex to be immediately understood, it employed amazing new tricks, like taking control of a computer system without the user taking any action or clicking any button other than inserting an infected memory stick. Experts say it took a massive expenditure of time, money, and software engineering talent to identify and exploit such vulnerabilities in industrial control software systems.
The Bushehr plant may already have been wrecked by Stuxnet. (Fingers crossed.)
"This will all eventually come out and Stuxnet's target will be known," Langner says. "If Bushehr wasn't the target and it starts up in a few months, well, I was wrong. But somewhere out there, Stuxnet has found its target. We can be fairly certain of that."
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Jul '10
Re: Somewhere Out There, the Secret-Squirrel Sci-Fi Stuxnet has Found its Target
Actually, Stuxnet is the Kenneth faction's doomsday weapon for the Ricochet Wars.
Jun '10
Re: Somewhere Out There, the Secret-Squirrel Sci-Fi Stuxnet has Found its Target
From the article:
Langner zeroes in on Stuxnet's ability to "fingerprint" the computer system it infiltrates to determine whether it is the precise machine the attack-ware is looking to destroy. If not, it leaves the industrial computer alone. It is this digital fingerprinting of the control systems that shows Stuxnet to be not spyware, but rather attackware meant to destroy, Langner says.
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Thousands of computer systems infiltrated; only one target. Cool.
Aug '10
Re: Somewhere Out There, the Secret-Squirrel Sci-Fi Stuxnet has Found its Target
While it doesn't prove that it is a CIA job, one of the hex codes is DEADF007. Professional bit manipulators all know about hexadecimal DEADBEEF, a favorite for filling up 4 bytes with something obviously not random. I'd like to think a wag at the CIA slipped in that 007. In any case the cosers were more than likely westerners. For the non-computer nerds among us, hexiceximal is base 16 and is written with digits 0-9 and plus the letters A to F.
Re: Somewhere Out There, the Secret-Squirrel Sci-Fi Stuxnet has Found its Target
Most interesting comment, Andrew! Thank you.
Aug '10
Re: Somewhere Out There, the Secret-Squirrel Sci-Fi Stuxnet has Found its Target
This is the new face of war, where a country can be wrecked without a human hand leaving a print. We had better be at the forefront of this. I suspect we are. The future has arrived. Next is The Singuarity.
http://computer.howstuffworks.com/technological-singularity.htm
Sep '10
Re: Somewhere Out There, the Secret-Squirrel Sci-Fi Stuxnet has Found its Target
On one hand, I would love to believe that for once we are as smart and sneaky as we are portrayed in the movies. On the other, this is the kind of genie and bottle scenario that can really keep me up at night.