Stuxnet pinned on US and Israel as an out-of-control creation

I have blogged before about Stuxnet and argued that we need to put more resources into cyber warfare.   Now, at last it would appear that after much speculation the US and Israel are the originators of Stuxnet which trashed the Siemens control software of the Iranian centrifuges causing a significant delay in the Iranian nuclear programme.  So well done US and Israel.

But it would seem that such “cyber bombs” are not without their dangers for the rest of us.  Particularly the new cyber spy “Flame”.  Let’s hope they develop better control methods to prevent the viruses breaking out into the rest of cyberspace.

Ever since Stuxnet was discovered, most of the accusing fingers have been pointed at the US, Israel or both, whether or not there was any evidence; it was hard to ignore malware that seemed tailor-made for wrecking Iranian centrifuges and slowing down the country's nuclear development. As it turns out, Occam's Razor is in full effect. An exposé from the New York Times matter-of-factly claims that the US and Israel coded Stuxnet as part of a cyberwar op, Olympic Games, and snuck it on to a USB thumb drive that infected computers at the Natanz nuclear facility. The reason we know about the infection at all, insiders say, is that it got out of control: someone modified the code or otherwise got it to spread through an infected PC carried outside, pushing Obama to either double down (which he did) or back off. Despite all its connections, the newspaper couldn't confirm whether or not the new Flame malware attack is another US creation. Tipsters did, however, deny that Flame is part of the Olympic Games push -- raising the possibility that there are other agencies at work.

[Image credit: David Holt, Flickr]

Stuxnet pinned on US and Israel as an out-of-control creation originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 01 Jun 2012 14:48:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Stuxnet pinned on US and Israel as an out-of-control creation
Jon Fingas
Fri, 01 Jun 2012 18:48:00 GMT

Serious' cyber attack on EU bodies

 

You can read all about it here 

One of the “bodies” was the EU External Action Service which sounds rather sinister, almost like the EU’s own special forces, and was a “body” that I was not familiar with.  So I looked it up and after reading its mandate I am none the wiser.  See if you can figure it out:

“In fulfilling his mandate, the High Representative shall be assisted by a European External Action Service. This service shall work in cooperation with the diplomatic services of the Member States and shall comprise officials from relevant departments of the General Secretariat of the Council and of the Commission as well as staff seconded from national diplomatic services of the Member States. The organisation and functioning of the European External Action Service shall be established by a decision of the Council. The Council shall act on a proposal from the High Representative after consulting the European Parliament and after obtaining the consent of the Commission”

No?  I thought not.  I bet some Brussels senior official was paid several grand to draft this gobbledegook.

Actually the High Representative is a she – none other than Baroness Ashton…..we’re in good hands.

Stuxnet Rolls On

 

Stuxnet, the malware that infiltrates Siemens plant control software and trashes it, has come to public notice since its attack on an Iranian nuclear reactor.  Indeed one could say that it has become an Important Issue having been featured on the Today Programme this morning.

I listened with fascination as the two “experts” talked with great gravitas about it.  Unfortunately the female professor, though articulate in that BBC way of speaking to the prols, couldn’t manage anything much more enlightening than it might be serious and showed new ways that bad people could attack in cyberspace.

Now call me old-fashioned but I happen to think that an ability to trash an oppressive and lunatic regime’s nuclear weapons facility remotely without a body count can hardly be called bad.

As I have previously blogged Stuxnet and its ilk may be the future of warfare and if that is the case then we need to plough significantly more resources into research and operations involving cyber war – particularly defending against cyber attacks-if we can do it to them they can do it to us.  Probably more than buying two new aircraft carriers which already are probably vulnerable to a Stuxnet –like attack. 

There is worrying evidence that the defence review is looking in the wrong place.  Instead of bickering about the numbers of fast jets and special forces soldiers we should be going flat out to build our cyberwar capability at a fraction of the cost.  What’s needed is brainpower not kit.

Building our defence doctrine on the assertion that “Whatever happens we have got the SAS [or Trident] and they have not” (with apologies to Hilaire Belloc) is hardly a way of future-proofing the nation.

Iron Man-style power suits

Is this the future of warfare or is it a last gasp of the old way of fighting as compared with cyber war (see Malware Will Change the Face of Warfare LiveScience and BBC News - Stuxnet worm hits Iran nuclear plant staff computers )
Click here for graphic demo

Malware Will Change the Face of Warfare | LiveScience

LiveScience (Malware Will Change the Face of Warfare | LiveScience) would appear to be supporting the thesis, discussed on this blog, that cyber war will significantly change the very nature of war itself.
Watch this space!

BBC News - Stuxnet worm hits Iran nuclear plant staff computers

This is an item - BBC News - Stuxnet worm hits Iran nuclear plant staff computers - about a virus that has infected Iran’s nuclear reactor that is designed to destroy it by attacking the Siemens plant operating software.   It is suggested that the attack is the work of a nation state.
Could this be the start of a new type of warfare, already much heralded but yet to be initiated?
Clausewitz reminds us that the aim of war is to disarm the enemy i.e. to defeat the enemy’s ability to wage war.
Sun Tzu tells us that the supreme act of war is to subdue the enemy without fighting.
What appears to have happened relates to both dictums with dramatic resonance.
But we shouldn’t ditch our conventional weapons quite yet.