Sophisticated Stuxnet Worm could only be created by a Nation State
Iran which has been at the centrestage of a Nuclear Row with USA over its uranium enrichment plans has been said to be hit with a very sophisticated Stuxnet Computer Virus.The Technology and Sophistication behind Stuxnet had made USA and Israel as the prime suspects for being behind this cyberattack on Iranian Nuclear Facilities.The encryption breaking used by this Computer Worm and the Target of Attack makes it pretty much clear that is was not made by your common criminal or hacker but by a well financed and advanced organization.The virus attack the software used in logic controllers of complex machines like industrial plants or satellites.The Worm uploads itself through Windows made computers and infects Siemens made Software which is used in Iran’s Nuclear Facilities.Ordinary folks have zero risk from Stuxnet but targetted facilities are in huge danger.
Stuxnet Computer Virus Attacks Iran’s Bushehr Nuclear Plant – BigPeace
Stuxnet is not an ordinary, garden variety computer virus, like the ones that erase your hard drives, steal your bank accounts, or send your browsers to porn sites.In fact, experts aren’t completely sure what it is, or what it’s trying to do. One thing they’re sure of: This virus wasn’t concocted by some hacker sitting at a computer in his basement. This virus MUST have been created by some government or government-level group, using a well-financed highly organized team of programmers, with access to plenty of specialized resources.
Was India being targeted by China instead Iran by Israel
A US expert has said that India was the target of the Stuxnet Attack rather than Iran.India’s Insat 4B Communications Satellite suffered from a malfunction recently and it used the same Siemens software which was the target of this Worm Attack.India has been subject to Chinese cyberwarfare attacks in the past .This has led to a general wariness in the Indian Establishment over Chinese origin companies like Huawei operating in India.Tensions between Indian and China have been rising over a range of issues such as territory,supply of arms and nuclear reactors to Pakistan and construction of military bases around India.The failure of an Indian Communications Satellite without any explicit attack done surreptitiously by Chinese hackers does not seem far fetched.Nothing would be clearly known to the general public given the clandestine nature of these cyberwarfare between nation states.However India’s decision to bolster its cyberwarfare capabilities and the recent decision by Google to abandon China,all point to China using cyberattacks as an instrument of statecraft.
China hitting India via Net worm? – TOI
Providing a fresh twist in the tale, well-known American cyber warfare expert Jeffrey Carr, who specialises in investigations of cyber attacks against government, told TOI that China, more than any other country, was likely to have written the worm which has terrorised the world since June.Carr, however, made it clear that he had not arrived at any definite conclusion till now. He said he was pointing out that there were alternative targets in countries other than Iran that also made sense and served another nation’s interest to attack — namely India’s Space Research Organisation which uses the exact Siemens software targeted by Stuxnet.”Further, the satellite in question (INSAT 4B) suffered the power `glitch’ in an unexplained fashion, and it’s failure served another state’s advantage — in this case China,” he said.
Alongwith Indonesia and Iran, India has had the maximum number of infections from Stuxnet which affects Windows computers and gets transmitted through USB sticks. While Iran and Indonesia had about 60,000 and 13,000 Stuxnet infections respectively till late September, India was at the third position with over 6,000 infections. However, it infects only those computers which use certain Siemens software systems. Siemens software systems are used in many Indian government agencies including ISRO.
