I just completed reading this amazing and extremely interesting article on Stuxnet and I must say that this is one of the best cyber warfare articles I have ever read to date. Period.
Those of you who are unware about Stuxnet can the read the wiki page, for others Stuxnet is one of the most sophisticated piece of malware or computer virus ever written in the history of cyber warfares. Sometime in the year 2009 first traces of Stuxnet started to appear around the globe and the full throttle destruction of the virus started last year, 2010. The primary purpose of this virus is not to steal credit card information or achieve other financial gains but the sole purpose of Stuxnet is to roam from computer to computer around the world till it finds and hits an specific job that it is looking for.
The code of Stuxnet was written to alter the functioning of PLCs or programmable logic controllers and Stuxnet was looking for the specific Siemens based Step 7 software and its purpose was to reprogram the hard ware devices running these softwares. Read the article for more details and you will be amazed. Most of the researchers (primarily from Symantec) who deciphered the code of Stuxnet, admit that they have never seen something like this before and the sophistication level of Stuxnet made it one of the elite threats ever encountered by the cyber security professionals.
Stuxnet caused major trouble in Iran by defusing many nuclear centrifudges and achieved its purpose of delaying the nuclear weapon program of Iran. Till date no one is sure who produced or wrote the code of Stuxnet but all fingers and pointing towards a joint collaboration between US and Israel in launching this virus against Iran.
Important thing is now people know what these malwares are capable of and this is something very disturbing. If you haven’t watched Die Hard 4 I recommend watching it, not for its kick ass action sequences but to see what computer worms, viruses and malwares are capable of. I’ll not be shockhed if tomorrow I read another article that says Stuxnet was the idea borrowed straight from Die Hard 4, as gone are the days when someone will write the code to steal your credit card number. Who would care for your credit card number if they can bring down your country and the whole world to its knees by writng 500 kilobytes of code (size of the Stuxnet malware).
This article is something totally worth reading and frightening at the sametime. What happened in the nuclear facilty of Iran can happen anywhere in the world. Stuxnet is out there and who knows like most of the common computer softwares a better and more productive version is on its way.
May God bless and save all mankind from mankind.
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