Stuxnet is a worm being referred to as one of the most sophisticated malware ever detected. Computer security experts across the world are amazed by it. They have decided sabotage is the primary goal of the Stuxnet called a search and destroy weapon. The Stuxnet is said by cybersecurity specialists to be so complex that it could only have been made by a nation-state. This means that no rogue hackers could recreate the technology. Instead of spreading indiscriminately via the web, Stuxnet migrates through thumb drives and printer spoolers to seek out a specific program used in factories, power plants and water systems. Many believe it was meant specifically to target the Bushehr nuclear power plant as Stuxnet has shown up in Iran quite a bit.
Is the Bushehr reactor the sabotage Stuxnet is looking for?
The first time Stuxnet showed up was in June. This was the first trace of it. The Christian Science Monitor reports that the worm’s complexity and encryption has dumbfounded computer security experts. Stuxnet is the only software known that steals software for chemical plants, factories, power plants and electric grids within the world that has been discovered. Stuxnet is really a military-grad online missile intended on hitting on target. This is as outlined by Cybersecurity researcher, Ralph Langler, who told this to the Monitor. Langer suggests that target has already been hit: Iran’s Bushehr nuclear power plant. For unknown reasons, Bushehr has postponed its startup. It was expected to start up in August.
How Stuxnet obliterates
In the world, Stuxnet has already infected computer systems. It has hit at least 45,000 systems so far. Computer systems not connected to the internet for security purposes are what the worm targeted, as outlined by the Daily Mail. Any PCs running Microsoft Windows is in danger. It is spread via USB thumb drives to these computers. No clicking or keying is needed for Stuxnet to hijack a PC. Stuxnet works to get embedded. After that it just looks for any industrial control systems developed by Siemens. It attacks by reprogramming software to give industrial machinery new, supposedly dangerous instructions. Experts say Stuxnet is capable of taking control of key processes to set off a sequence that makes an entire system self-destruct.
Warfare that is online by Stuxnet
As a result of the variety of techniques in its package and its code, Stuxnet has set off some alarms. Liam O’Murchu of Symantec talked to BBC News. He explained to them that Stuxnet spreads so easily because the techniques used are so unfamiliar to computers. Windows vulnerabilities that weren’t known before are being exploited by the worm. The project for Stuxnet had to have been a well-planned, well-funded, large project, as outlined by O’Murchu. Heavy insider knowledge was needed to create such a sabotage attack with Stuxnet, says Langer. ”This isn’t some hacker sitting within the basement of his parents’ house,” he said. It had to be more. “To me, it appears that the resources needed to stage this attack point to a nation state.”
Additional reading
Christian Science Monitor
csmonitor.com/USA/2010/0921/Stuxnet-malware-is-weapon-out-to-destroy-Iran-s-Bushehr-nuclear-plant
Daily Mail
dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1314580/Stuxnet-worm-targeted-Iranian-nuclear-power-station-sophisticated-virus-attack-ever.html?ITO=1490
BBC News
bbc.co.uk/news/technology-11388018
