Stuxnet is World's First Cyber Super Weapon

Status
Not open for further replies.

COLGeek

Cybernaut
Moderator
This is only the beginning of where cyber-warfare will go. Easy to escalate. Hard (as in impossible) to completely stop. This will get weird and painful as a result of unintended consequences.
 

Nightsilver

Distinguished
May 4, 2007
53
0
18,580
[citation][nom]COLGeek[/nom]This is only the beginning of where cyber-warfare will go. Easy to escalate. Hard (as in impossible) to completely stop. This will get weird and painful as a result of unintended consequences.[/citation]

My thoughts exactly. Doesn't matter who threw this punch, the internet's about to explode.
 

hellwig

Distinguished
May 29, 2008
817
0
18,930
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.
LOL, that's government math for you. How much are they paying these 10 engineers such that it costs $3mil. Are they including $2.5mil overhead for all the worthless managers sitting on their thumbs all day while the programmers do the work?

Still, I don't doubt this is some sort of CIA-create worm. The U.S. is pretty blatant about their covert actions: framing the Wikilinks founder for sexual assault days after he decided to release all those pentagon papers, the Iran/Contra affair, etc.. etc...
 

mlopinto2k1

Distinguished
Apr 25, 2006
817
0
18,930
All of these attacks should not be broadcast. They should be dealt with swiftly and silently. It is only inviting more attacks, giving amateurs "ideas".. don't ask, don't tell.
 

JasonAkkerman

Distinguished
Apr 28, 2008
154
0
18,630
LOL @ $3 million dollars, 10 programmer, and six months...

I design and program industrial control systems, including a number of other SCADA systems, PLC's, and DCS's. Trust me, it's not hard to screw them up. You think software crashes are a hassle? Try working in my field were it's an accepted common occurrence (at least during development). Poorly written code, and network infrastructures open the door to any number of ways to attack a control system. For that reason they are usually completely disconnected from the internet, or other networks connected to the internet. Hence they needed a USB stick to get the virus in.
 
G

Guest

Guest
PLC's can be used for emergency shut down's. The DCS's are used for normal day to day control. If the worm was aimed at PLC's and not DCS's, that's a very strategic choice.
 

3doog

Distinguished
Oct 15, 2009
2
0
18,510
[citation][nom]wymer100[/nom]Another reason not to use Windows, especially for critical functions.[/citation]

I thought Windows are harder to hack,
 

Trueno07

Distinguished
Apr 15, 2009
164
0
18,630
[citation][nom]wymer100[/nom]Another reason not to use Windows, especially for critical functions.[/citation]

If Iran used Linux i'm sure that wouldn't have stopped the hackers. Nothing can stop them.
 

Trialsking

Distinguished
Mar 2, 2007
146
0
18,630
Like this was some big surprise. Its the 21st century, and this IS the future of warfare. Rayguns and Halo Spartan armor is not a future reality that is practical, its cyberwarfare on infrastructure. Why go head to head in a obvious open military conflict with all the political problems associated with that. Just look at the "war of terror", the battle lines are being rewritten as we speak.
 

Lewis57

Distinguished
Nov 27, 2009
121
0
18,630
[citation][nom]Trueno07[/nom]If Iran used Linux i'm sure that wouldn't have stopped the hackers. Nothing can stop them.[/citation]

Although true, it's safe to say if you get a random IP, it's connected to windows in some way, so create a windows based virus. It would be logical for most computers to run windows and then the critical machines to run a random Linux Distro, if the windows machines got infect the critical machines wouldn't be infected.
 

milktea

Distinguished
Dec 16, 2009
344
0
18,930
No doubt the US is trying to disrupt Iran's nuclear operation.
The US Government needs to do a better job in hiding their secret Cyber Wormpon.
Their first target should be the security firm in Belarus.
 

tony_latino

Distinguished
Sep 27, 2010
1
0
18,510
First, if this is the United States trying to attack Iran then this is a complete PR disaster and intelligence failure. The CIA should have had their ear to the ground and once word of the virus discovery was made, the person who discovered it should have been approached (as in given a large sum of money) to STFU and let the worm do its job.

Secondly, I always wondered why the US government does not do more cyber attacks. Terrorists use websites to boast of their conquests and communicate Jihad to others. Why can't we just disable those webservers in a targeted DoS attack?

Oh well - yet another intellgigence snafu - sad really.
 

husker

Distinguished
Oct 2, 2009
428
0
18,930
[citation][nom]Quote[/nom]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.[/citation]
I wonder how they arrived at that number? Other than paying 10 programmers 300K each for 6 months work, what significant costs could there be?
 

_tus_

Distinguished
Aug 8, 2006
3
0
18,510
If it was the US it would actually be benificial to us for it to be discovered. Our military doctrine is based upon the threat of what we can do to you, which is backed up by the actual fact that we can pull it off. Iran has been sittin there all secure like because they feel we can't touch them conventionally. Now think of what must being going through their heads when they know we don't even have to put men on the ground to affect them. Think of it as a deterrance... one that we never have to actually admit to. Hell, I would suspect that if we really wanted to screw w/ their systems we wouldn't have done it in this manner.
 

Zingam

Distinguished
Mar 17, 2009
502
0
18,930
Infecting the computers of a nuclear powerplant is the worst kind of terrorism. And it that has been done by US or Israel... I have nothing else to say. Deeds speak for themselves.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.