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MUMBAI: Isro has ruled out possibility of the deadly Stuxnet internet worm attacking Insat-4 B satellite on July 7, resulting in 12 of its 24 transponders shutting down.
Speaking to TOI from Bangalore on Monday, Isro officials, requesting anonymity, said that the worm only strikes a satellites programme logic controller (PLC).
We can confirm that Insat-4 B doesnt have a PLC. So the chances of the Stuxnet worm attacking it appear remote. In PLCs place, Insat-4 B had its own indigenously-designed software which controlled the logic of the spacecraft, said a source.
PLCs main function is to control the entire logic of the spacecraft. Other space experts described PLC as a digital computer used for automation of electro-mechanical processes.
Sources, however, said Isro is awaiting Jeffrey Carrs presentation at Abu Dhabi next to know the full details of the Stuxnet internet worm. Carr in a blog published in Forbes recently suggested that the resumes of two former engineers at Isros Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre (LPSC) at Mahendra Giri in Tamil Nadu said that the Siemens S7-400 PLC was used in Insat-4 B, which can activate the Stuxnet worm.
An Isro announcement on July 9 said that due to a power supply anomaly in one of its (Insat-4 B) two solar panels, there is a partial non-availability on Indias Insat-4 B communication satellite. It said that the satellite has been in operation since March 2007 and the power supply glitch had led to the switching off of 50% of the transponder capacity.
The worm infects only computers equipped with certain Siemens software systems. Isro, however, reiterated that the Siemens software wasnt used in Insat-4 B. The Stuxnet worm was first discovered in June, a month before Insat-4 B was crippled by power failure.
Carrs blog says, China and India are competing with each other to see who will be the first to land another astronaut on the Moon.
Cyber threat: Isro rules out Stuxnet attack on Insat-4 B - The Economic Times
Speaking to TOI from Bangalore on Monday, Isro officials, requesting anonymity, said that the worm only strikes a satellites programme logic controller (PLC).
We can confirm that Insat-4 B doesnt have a PLC. So the chances of the Stuxnet worm attacking it appear remote. In PLCs place, Insat-4 B had its own indigenously-designed software which controlled the logic of the spacecraft, said a source.
PLCs main function is to control the entire logic of the spacecraft. Other space experts described PLC as a digital computer used for automation of electro-mechanical processes.
Sources, however, said Isro is awaiting Jeffrey Carrs presentation at Abu Dhabi next to know the full details of the Stuxnet internet worm. Carr in a blog published in Forbes recently suggested that the resumes of two former engineers at Isros Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre (LPSC) at Mahendra Giri in Tamil Nadu said that the Siemens S7-400 PLC was used in Insat-4 B, which can activate the Stuxnet worm.
An Isro announcement on July 9 said that due to a power supply anomaly in one of its (Insat-4 B) two solar panels, there is a partial non-availability on Indias Insat-4 B communication satellite. It said that the satellite has been in operation since March 2007 and the power supply glitch had led to the switching off of 50% of the transponder capacity.
The worm infects only computers equipped with certain Siemens software systems. Isro, however, reiterated that the Siemens software wasnt used in Insat-4 B. The Stuxnet worm was first discovered in June, a month before Insat-4 B was crippled by power failure.
Carrs blog says, China and India are competing with each other to see who will be the first to land another astronaut on the Moon.
Cyber threat: Isro rules out Stuxnet attack on Insat-4 B - The Economic Times