Stuxnet

[Torvald Von Mansee]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stuxnet

I'm guessing it's either Israel or the USA or a combination of the two.

I hear the Iranian nuclear reactor is having "technical problems"!!!

[SteamWake]

Wow a worm that could attack and control/disable SCADA systems would be a very nasty buisness indeed.

Most pepole have no idea shat SCADA is but lets just say you flushed a toilet. Inderectly you just used a SCADA because without it you wouldent have water to flush the toilet nor power to see where you were uhhh... going.

SCADA is imbedded process monitoring, controlling and reporting for just about everything from sewage treatment plants, potable water storage and distribution, traffic lights, power distribution and control.

[TLAM Strike]

Yep heard of it.

I knew we paid those four eyed geeks in Langley for something...

Our Nerds > Their Nerds

[Skybird]

http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showthread.php?t=175206

That FAZ article still is the most elaborated article on the issue I have seen so far. The rumours that the Iranian problems result from a foreign-launched cyberspace attack, are around since quite some time now, it is just that not before now the analysis has lead to the conclusions that it was that indeed: the probably first digital war-attack of this kind.

Candidates being able to do this by competence and monetarian funding, are not many: America, Israel, Russia, China, India, Japan. That the EU is behind it, I cannot imagine - due to lacking determination and courage.

[Happy Times]

Originally Posted by Skybird

Candidates being able to do this by competence and monetarian funding, are not many: America, Israel, Russia, China, India, Japan. That the EU is behind it, I cannot imagine - due to lacking determination and courage.

Any info on this? Finland has build a capacity to launch and deter cyberattacks for a decade.

[SteamWake]

Originally Posted by Happy Times

Any info on this? Finland has build a capacity to launch and deter cyberattacks for a decade.

So has the US but that doesent stop them from getting their links re-directed to porn sites.

http://foreign.peacefmonline.com/news/201009/83910.php

[Gerald]

As long as you know what a worm as this is, so it is harmless,and is well protected in the system of society

[Skybird]

Originally Posted by Vendor

As long as you know what a worm as this is, so it is harmless,and is well protected in the system of society

This worm was anything but harmless, but the reuslt of a developement and desiogn work that must have costed millions and impossibly could have bene the work of just some gifted hackers doing it as a hobby. This worm was like one of these Russian puppets with more and more puppets inside of them - just theat the inner puppets became more and more complex and self-unfolding, and heading for very precisely defined key codes as present in certain industrial control software. It indeed compares to a description of having been the first massive use of cyberwarfare in known history. Whoever fired it up, meant serious business. Affected parts of industrial installations are still not cleared of the consequences from this strike, more than one year after the impact.


So, do not think of this thing like of just any worm we have by the dozens every day. This was a military major strike by use of a new weapon technology, plain and simple.

And that'S the reason why I do not think that Fiunland has anything to do with it, Happy Times. I also wonder if Finland has the will and the resources to invest into offensive capacities in this field. Like the German essay in the FAZ quoted an insider, this worm was of that kind that you only develope if oyu can invest, millions into carrying out such an attack, and when the alternative of not doing it would be - to launch a real war. That reduces the number of possible suspects very drastically, I would say.

[Gerald]

I know how it is 'destroyed' infrastructure, but I maintain that it was not of the severe variety, some countries had problems with the undeniable, and it is due to their lower security level

[SteamWake]

Originally Posted by Vendor

As long as you know what a worm as this is, so it is harmless,and is well protected in the system of society

Siemens SCADA systems are hardly 'well protected' or at least they werent. I dont think they foresaw this as an issue.

I recently had a discussion over communications protocal for a domestic water supply system. I boiled down to hardwired RS232 or wireless ethernet. The wireless is of course much cheaper and easier to program and maintain but has obvious security risks. These risks were pointed out. The end results? The cheaper route.

[Skybird]

Originally Posted by Vendor

I know how it is 'destroyed' infrastructure, but I maintain that it was not of the severe variety, some countries had problems with the undeniable, and it is due to their lower security level

No, I think you get that wrong. Most countries have no bigger troubles with it, because the woirm was designed to attack very specific industrial compounds in Iran, not globally. Other countries only got affected because there industrial intallations share parts fo the control software by for example Siemens that also are used by the Oranians, but these other coutries do not meet the full list of specifics of ther attack profile of this worm, which saved them from being attacked in full, too. When the worm impatced in Iran, that was at a time, early last year, when the Iranians massievly increased the total number of centrifuges, but although they did, the number of operational centrifuges dramatically went down. These complexes were one of the target descpritons of the attacking software, and since these c omplexes are somewhat unique to Iran, other countries were not affected in full by this "worm". Consider these minor sideffects as kind of collateral damage. But the Iranian industry - has not recovered until today, they are still fighting with this beast, and it still is biting them.

Think of it like this:


The smaller the puppet, the deeper inside other puppets it was hidden, but the more dangerous it became, and the more complex.

[Skybird]

Originally Posted by SteamWake

Siemens SCADA systems are hardly 'well protected' or at least they werent. I dont think they foresaw this as an issue.

I recently had a discussion over communications protocal for a domestic water supply system. I boiled down to hardwired RS232 or wireless ethernet. The wireless is of course much cheaper and easier to program and maintain but has obvious security risks. These risks were pointed out. The end results? The cheaper route.

If I would think too long about our cybersecurity of powerplants and powergrids, hospitals, industrial infrastructure, communication networks, etc, I would not find any sleep anymore. I really think that a determined and competent attacker with the needed ressources could completely shut down our complete systems and infrastructure and destroy them without needing to drop a single bomb. It is a nightmare scenario. I once heared an expert on cyber-warfare comparing it to the impact of a killer meteorit that affects all the globe.

Our world is more complex than ever before. And it is more vulnerable than ever before.

[Gerald]

Iran is not exactly known for having a high level of safety in these kinds of cases, and if they still fight with it as it is for them, however, the threat became a reality in other countries which are not also, I am not surprised,at all

[Skybird]

Originally Posted by Vendor

Iran is not exactly known for having a high level of safety in these kinds of cases, and if they still fight with it as it is for them, however, the threat became a reality in other countries which are not also, I am not surprised,at all

No, no other country was as effected as Iran. The attack was designed to hit Iran. All other countries only took tamed-down collateral damage. The software, so say analysts today, has been very cleverly designed to react to specifics of Iranian installations and their specific characteristics, that make them different to other nation'S installations using code by Siemens software as well, for example.

It's like the hopuse next to yours getting hit by a bomb. While yours is close to it, your house also may take some force from the blow, too. But that does not compare to the target house, that sees it'S very centre getting hit by the full blow of the bomb. The first takes damage, the latter takes much more damage or even gets destroyed.

[Gerald]

No, you're wrong, other countries became involved!