| Was Stuxnet Designed to Cause A Melt-Down On Que 03-23-11 mpg Stuxnet - Wikipedia Must Read - A quote...."Stuxnet is a Windows computer worm discovered in July 2010 that targets industrial software and equipment. [1] While it is not the first time that hackers have targeted industrial systems, [2] it is the first discovered malware that spies on and subverts industrial systems,[3] and the first to include a programmable logic controller (PLC) rootkit. [4] [5] -- The worm initially spreads indiscriminately, but includes a highly specialized malware payload that is designed to target only Siemens Supervisory Control And Data Acquisition (SCADA) systems that are configured to control and monitor specific industrial processes. [6] [7]Stuxnet infects PLCs by subverting the Step-7 software application that is used to reprogram these devices.[8]" --- "Unlike most malware, Stuxnet does little harm to computers and networks that do not meet specific configuration requirements; "The attackers took great care to make sure that only their designated targets were hit...It was a marksman’s job." [27] While the worm is promiscuous, it makes itself inert if Siemens software is not found on infected computers, contains safeguards to prevent each infected computer from spreading the worm to more than three others, and to erase itself on 24 June 2012.[21] -- For its targets, Stuxnet contains, among other things, code for a man-in-the-middle attack that fakes industrial process control sensor signals so an infected system does not shut down due to abnormal behavior.[21] [27] Such complexity is very unusual for malware. The worm consists of a layered attack against three different systems:" Japan's Nuclear Crisis, Stuxnet and SCADA Defenses A quote...."Stuxnet is a highly sophisticated designer-virus that wreaks havoc with SCADA systems which provide operational control for critical infrastructure and production networks, such as those used to operate a nuclear power plant. -- Stuxnet-type viruses are uniquely dangerous because they are capable not only of affecting network computer systems, they can also cause actual physical damage to the equipment the networks control." Stuxnet is World's First Cyber Super Weapon A quote...."Wired reports that Stuxnet is designed to attack the Siemens Simatic WinCC SCADA system. These SCADA systems are installed in big facilities (like nuclear plants and utility companies) to manage operations. It's taken researchers three months to come to a conclusion as to what Stuxnet's creator had in mind when it was written. Experts now say that the worm is designed for sabotage and that the level of sophistication behind it suggests it may have had the support of a government or state-run organization. -- Frank Rieger, chief technology officer at GSMK, told Bloomberg that the building of Stuxnet would have cost at least $3 million and taken a team of 10 programmers six months to complete. -- "All the details so far to me scream that this was created by a nation-state," Rieger told Bloomberg in an interview." - bold by website editor Iran's Top Stuxnet Expert Killed A quote...."News-worthy.info — Prof. Majid Shahriari, who died when his car was attacked in North Tehran Monday, Nov. 29, headed the team Iran established for combating the Stuxnet virus rampaging through its nuclear and military networks. His wife was injured." Israel used Stuxnet against Iran with US help Russia claims Stuxnet could have triggered second Chernobyl Israel, with U.S. help, tested Stuxnet at Dimona before attacking Iran Stuxnet Autopsy Fascinates And Frightens Israel: smart enough to create Stuxnet and stupid enough to use it Stuxnet: Another “Conspiracy Theory” Turns Out To Be True If Stuxnet was designed solely to attack centrifuges and electronic turbines that's one thing. If however it was designed to interfere with the emergency shut-down procedures of any process, specifically those in nuclear power plants, that's a completely different matter altogether. Israel has faked attacks or transmitted fake information to trigger attacks several times in the past. If their goal was the complete destruction of Iran's Bushehr nuclear plant using the Stuxnet worm -- instead of just slowing its construction -- what's outlined below would've been the most likely scenario. The Stuxnet worm was actually intended not to be discovered until AFTER the Bushehr plant had been loaded with fuel and gone online. Nuclear plants and their systems are at their most vulnerable during emergency shut-downs. The OBVIOUS policy of the Iranians to any perceived attack, no matter how tenuous or uncorroborated, would be to scram the reactor and shut-down the plant as fast as possible at the first sign of trouble. The possible sequence is as follows.....
Of course in this scenario Israel could just as easily have scrammed the Bushehr reactor through the Stuxnet worm itself, but a "triple play" like this, were "incompetent" Iranians scram their own brand new reactor full of "bugs" because of their paranoid delusions about a non-existent attack thus causing a catastrophic melt-down damaging the whole Middle East would play out a lot better....after all, they'd be "doing it" to themselves. Besides, it's just the sort of "triple play" operation Israel loves to carry out. They've done others before.... Just think -- four remoted planes, three controlled demolitions and one completely incapacitated air defense system....another brilliant "triple play". It would be sad if this is what unintentionally happened to Japan's nuclear reactors, if their safe shut-down was impeded -- in any way -- by the presence of the Stuxnet worm in their control systems (obviously it wouldn't have been deliberate and Stuxnet wouldn't have been "activated" with its final instruction-set according to the speculative scenario shown above). Still, it is strongly recommended that all of Japan's reactor control systems be examined to see if they've been penetrated and possibly compromised by the Stuxnet worm. Perhaps Stuxnet should also be analyzed to see if it has been designed to have specific affects on systems as they undergo emergency shut-down procedures or how it affects the operation of water pumps, or if Stuxnet has any tell tale signatures of being designed to receive updates or additional code to implement such destructive actions. Obviously if Stuxnet is found to have contributed to Japan's disaster, than steps will have to be immediately taken by the entire international community to permanently sanction and isolate Israel and the United States. - mpg |