The Jerusalem Post is reporting that the Stuxnet virus, which the country of Israel is suspected of creating and sending into areas surrounding the nuclear enrichment facility at Natanz and its reactor at Bushehr, was an enormous success.
“It will take two years for Iran to get back on track,” said top German computer consultant Ralph Langer in a telephone interview from his office in Hamburg, Germany. “This was nearly as effective as a military strike, but even better since there are no fatalities and no full-blown war. From a military perspective, this was a huge success.”
According to the UN's nuclear watchdog agency, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Iran has suspended work at its nuclear production facilities, likely as a result of the Stuxnet infection.
Langer believes Iran's best option will be to destroy all computers infected by the worm, which he considers to be the most “advanced and aggressive malware in history.” However, even after they do so, they would have to take aggressive steps to make sure that computers used by outside contractors were also clean of Stuxnet.
This is a major job, Langer says. “It is extremely difficult to clean up installations from Stuxnet, and we know that Iran is no good in IT [information technology] security, and they are just beginning to learn what this all means,” he said. “Just to get their systems running again they have to get rid of the virus, and this will take time, and then they need to replace the equipment, and they have to rebuild the centrifuges at Natanz and possibly buy a new turbine for Bushehr.”
Widespread speculation has named Israel’s Military Intelligence Unit 8200, known for its advanced Signal Intelligence (SIGINT) capabilities, as the possible creator of the software, as well as the United States.
Langer agrees and believes at least two countries – Israel and the United States – were behind Stuxnet.
“We can say that it must have taken several years to develop, and we arrived at this conclusion through code analysis, since the code on the control systems is 15,000 lines of code, and this is a huge amount,” Langer said.
“This piece of evidence led us to conclude that this is not by a hacker,” he continued. “It had to be a country, and we can also conclude that even one nation-state would not have been able to do this on its own.”
The Stuxnet worm is a "cybermissile" designed to penetrate advanced security systems. It was equipped with one "warhead" that targeted and took over controls of the centrifuge system at Natanz, while a second "warhead" targeted the massive turbine at the nuclear reactor in Bashehr. The missile was designed to evade detection as it took over control systems.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejab has publicly admitted that the worm infected the country's main nuclear sites but claimed it was under control; however, evidence shows this is probably not true.
Eric Byres, a computer security expert who runs a website which provides solutions for industrial companies with Stuxnet-related problems, told the Post on Tuesday that the number of Iranians visiting his site has jumped tremendously in recent weeks – a likely indication that the virus is still causing chaos at Iranian nuclear facilities.
“What caught our attention was that last year we maybe had one or two people from Iran trying to access the secure areas on our site,” Byres said. “Iran was never on the map for us, and all of a sudden we are now getting massive numbers of people going to our website, and people who we can identify as being from Iran.”
Byres claims that "hundreds" of people, some from Iran and others using fake identities, are accessing his site. “It could be people who are curious about what is going on, but we are such a specialized site that it would only make sense that these are people who are involved in control systems."
© All Rights Reserved, Living His Life Abundantly®/Women of Grace® http://www.womenofgrace.com
Virus Sets Back Iranian Nuke Program by Two Years
By Susan Brinkmann, OCDS
Staff Journalist
A top German computer expert says the recent virus attack on Iranian nuclear site computers has been more effective than a military strike because it succeeded in setting back the country's nuclear program by at least two years without causing the loss of a single human life.
The Jerusalem Post is reporting that the Stuxnet virus, which the country of Israel is suspected of creating and sending into areas surrounding the nuclear enrichment facility at Natanz and its reactor at Bushehr, was an enormous success.
“It will take two years for Iran to get back on track,” said top German computer consultant Ralph Langer in a telephone interview from his office in Hamburg, Germany. “This was nearly as effective as a military strike, but even better since there are no fatalities and no full-blown war. From a military perspective, this was a huge success.”
According to the UN's nuclear watchdog agency, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Iran has suspended work at its nuclear production facilities, likely as a result of the Stuxnet infection.
Langer believes Iran's best option will be to destroy all computers infected by the worm, which he considers to be the most “advanced and aggressive malware in history.” However, even after they do so, they would have to take aggressive steps to make sure that computers used by outside contractors were also clean of Stuxnet.
This is a major job, Langer says. “It is extremely difficult to clean up installations from Stuxnet, and we know that Iran is no good in IT [information technology] security, and they are just beginning to learn what this all means,” he said. “Just to get their systems running again they have to get rid of the virus, and this will take time, and then they need to replace the equipment, and they have to rebuild the centrifuges at Natanz and possibly buy a new turbine for Bushehr.”
Widespread speculation has named Israel’s Military Intelligence Unit 8200, known for its advanced Signal Intelligence (SIGINT) capabilities, as the possible creator of the software, as well as the United States.
Langer agrees and believes at least two countries – Israel and the United States – were behind Stuxnet.
“We can say that it must have taken several years to develop, and we arrived at this conclusion through code analysis, since the code on the control systems is 15,000 lines of code, and this is a huge amount,” Langer said.
“This piece of evidence led us to conclude that this is not by a hacker,” he continued. “It had to be a country, and we can also conclude that even one nation-state would not have been able to do this on its own.”
The Stuxnet worm is a "cybermissile" designed to penetrate advanced security systems. It was equipped with one "warhead" that targeted and took over controls of the centrifuge system at Natanz, while a second "warhead" targeted the massive turbine at the nuclear reactor in Bashehr. The missile was designed to evade detection as it took over control systems.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejab has publicly admitted that the worm infected the country's main nuclear sites but claimed it was under control; however, evidence shows this is probably not true.
Eric Byres, a computer security expert who runs a website which provides solutions for industrial companies with Stuxnet-related problems, told the Post on Tuesday that the number of Iranians visiting his site has jumped tremendously in recent weeks – a likely indication that the virus is still causing chaos at Iranian nuclear facilities.
“What caught our attention was that last year we maybe had one or two people from Iran trying to access the secure areas on our site,” Byres said. “Iran was never on the map for us, and all of a sudden we are now getting massive numbers of people going to our website, and people who we can identify as being from Iran.”
Byres claims that "hundreds" of people, some from Iran and others using fake identities, are accessing his site. “It could be people who are curious about what is going on, but we are such a specialized site that it would only make sense that these are people who are involved in control systems."
© All Rights Reserved, Living His Life Abundantly®/Women of Grace® http://www.womenofgrace.com
The Jerusalem Post is reporting that the Stuxnet virus, which the country of Israel is suspected of creating and sending into areas surrounding the nuclear enrichment facility at Natanz and its reactor at Bushehr, was an enormous success.
“It will take two years for Iran to get back on track,” said top German computer consultant Ralph Langer in a telephone interview from his office in Hamburg, Germany. “This was nearly as effective as a military strike, but even better since there are no fatalities and no full-blown war. From a military perspective, this was a huge success.”
According to the UN's nuclear watchdog agency, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Iran has suspended work at its nuclear production facilities, likely as a result of the Stuxnet infection.
Langer believes Iran's best option will be to destroy all computers infected by the worm, which he considers to be the most “advanced and aggressive malware in history.” However, even after they do so, they would have to take aggressive steps to make sure that computers used by outside contractors were also clean of Stuxnet.
This is a major job, Langer says. “It is extremely difficult to clean up installations from Stuxnet, and we know that Iran is no good in IT [information technology] security, and they are just beginning to learn what this all means,” he said. “Just to get their systems running again they have to get rid of the virus, and this will take time, and then they need to replace the equipment, and they have to rebuild the centrifuges at Natanz and possibly buy a new turbine for Bushehr.”
Widespread speculation has named Israel’s Military Intelligence Unit 8200, known for its advanced Signal Intelligence (SIGINT) capabilities, as the possible creator of the software, as well as the United States.
Langer agrees and believes at least two countries – Israel and the United States – were behind Stuxnet.
“We can say that it must have taken several years to develop, and we arrived at this conclusion through code analysis, since the code on the control systems is 15,000 lines of code, and this is a huge amount,” Langer said.
“This piece of evidence led us to conclude that this is not by a hacker,” he continued. “It had to be a country, and we can also conclude that even one nation-state would not have been able to do this on its own.”
The Stuxnet worm is a "cybermissile" designed to penetrate advanced security systems. It was equipped with one "warhead" that targeted and took over controls of the centrifuge system at Natanz, while a second "warhead" targeted the massive turbine at the nuclear reactor in Bashehr. The missile was designed to evade detection as it took over control systems.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejab has publicly admitted that the worm infected the country's main nuclear sites but claimed it was under control; however, evidence shows this is probably not true.
Eric Byres, a computer security expert who runs a website which provides solutions for industrial companies with Stuxnet-related problems, told the Post on Tuesday that the number of Iranians visiting his site has jumped tremendously in recent weeks – a likely indication that the virus is still causing chaos at Iranian nuclear facilities.
“What caught our attention was that last year we maybe had one or two people from Iran trying to access the secure areas on our site,” Byres said. “Iran was never on the map for us, and all of a sudden we are now getting massive numbers of people going to our website, and people who we can identify as being from Iran.”
Byres claims that "hundreds" of people, some from Iran and others using fake identities, are accessing his site. “It could be people who are curious about what is going on, but we are such a specialized site that it would only make sense that these are people who are involved in control systems."
© All Rights Reserved, Living His Life Abundantly®/Women of Grace® http://www.womenofgrace.com
