Cyberwar: Iran's nuclear plants targetted by Stuxnet worm

[Pasban]

Please dont get me wrong. I am not advocating a scenario nor will I be happy if there is loss of life in Iran, but I fully support US/Israel in preventing Iran from going nuclear, for multiple reasons which I would not like to discuss here since this thread is meant for something else.

I am curious to know why you advocate an exclusion of Iran from nuclear energy-- a right which I believe all states should have if they choose to. I myself am very supportive for a large nuclear energy base for Iran.

 

[SandsofTime]

Anyone knows how vulnerable are Pak installations to this type of attacks? We should move systems to open source software. There is no telling what kind of backdoors are hidden in proprietary software like MS Windows. Also, from now on not only governments but script kiddies can devise these sort of exploits and target could be civilian infrastructure not just military.

 

[Tang0]

Anyone knows how vulnerable are Pak installations to this type of attacks? We should move systems to open source software. There is no telling what kind of backdoors are hidden in proprietary software like MS Windows. Also, from now on not only governments but script kiddies can devise these sort of exploits and target could be civilian infrastructure not just military.

Umm, no, I think everything in the articles earlier seemed to clearly indicate that this was beyond the skill of any script-kiddie, and most all computer security experts acting individually. It would either be a network of computer security experts acting independently for ideological reasons, with target infection done by someone in the group in Iran. Or far more likely, a nation's spy agency or military. The US has officially denied involvement, but that does not mean anything.

 

[Markus]

I am curious to know why you advocate an exclusion of Iran from nuclear energy-- a right which I believe all states should have if they choose to. I myself am very supportive for a large nuclear energy base for Iran.

The reasons are all political and of geographic strategics and beyond the scope of the topic of this thread.

You may count that as my opinion and its not necessary for our opinions to match.

 

[SpArK]

Iran struggling to contain 'foreign-made' 'Stuxnet' computer virus​

TEHRAN - Iran suspects that a foreign organization or nation designed "Stuxnet," a quickly mutating computer worm that has been infiltrating industrial computer systems in the Islamic republic, a high-ranking official said Monday.

"We had anticipated that we could root out the virus within one to two months," Hamid Alipour, deputy head of Iran's Information Technology Co., a part of the ministry of communication and information technology, told the Islamic Republic News Agency. "But the virus is not stable, and since we started the cleanup process three new versions of it have been spreading," he said.

No one has claimed responsibility for the worm and no entity or country has been definitively identified as its source.

It is the first known case of malware designed to sabotage an industrial control system. "We've never seen anything like this before," said Liam O'Murchu, a researcher with the security firm Symantec. "It's very dangerous."

International computer security experts say Stuxnet was designed to target control systems produced by Siemens, a German equipment manufacturer. Siemens products are widely used in Iranian electricity plants, communication systems and in the country's first nuclear power plant, near the city of Bushehr, set to start production in October.

Once inside the target system, the worm is capable of reprogramming the software that controls critical functions. Researchers still do not know what type of system it had in its sights or what type of sabotage was intended.

The worm was discovered in June, and researchers found about 45,000 infected computers in various countries, including Indonesia and India. But the vast majority were in Iran, leading analysts to conclude that a system in Iran was the likely target.

Iranian officials said Saturday that they had been hit by "electronic warfare" and acknowledged that the worm had infected more than 30,000 computers, including personal computers owned by employees of the nuclear power plant near Bushehr.



But although the officials said over the weekend that the facility itself was not in danger and that the virus was under control, Monday's remarks suggest otherwise.

Because of the worm's reach and complexity and the huge investment required to write the code, Alipour said he thinks the virus was designed by a foreign organization or country. "The writer has had access to industrial information which is not available to IT experts," he said, stressing that an ordinary group of hackers could not have designed the virus.

An Iranian computer expert said the nuclear power plant must also be infected if employees' personal computers were hit by Stuxnet. "This could either be done by Israel, intending to steal nuclear secrets or disrupt power plants, or by India, which has the biggest private programming capacity worldwide," said the expert, speaking on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the subject.

A low-level cyberwar between Iran and the West intensified after President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's disputed election victory last year. Several groups of Iranian hackers, some of them alleged to have ties to the intelligence ministry, have been attacking opposition Web sites. In December, they temporarily disrupted the Twitter network, which they accuse of assisting the grass-roots opposition movement.

Hacker groups such as the Iranian Cyber Army and Ashiyaneh have been saying they disrupted thousands of Western sites in the past year. In return, hundreds of Iranian Web sites have also been under attack.

Tehran-based engineers specializing in repairing personal computers said they had not noticed any upsurge in demands of repairs because of the virus. Computers are widely used in Iranian society, with the Internet playing an important role in distributing opposition news that is censored by state media outlets.

Alipour said the worm had become active about a year ago. "It is different from any other virus," he said. "Stuxnet is extremely dangerous, and serious measures should be taken to clean it up."


washingtonpost.com

 

[somebozo]

The issue of Stuxnet is indeed suspecious and most likely a joint effor by CIA Mossad considering the sophistication and complexity involved. It uses four unreported vulnerabilies in windows OS. It specifically targets Siemens because sanctioned iran has no access to other power systems like GE and Honeywell which are american. However all the key Iranian control computers use a secure version of Russian linux OS.

 

[Markus]

The issue of Stuxnet is indeed suspecious and most likely a joint effor by CIA Mossad considering the sophistication and complexity involved. It uses four unreported vulnerabilies in windows OS. It specifically targets Siemens because sanctioned iran has no access to other power systems like GE and Honeywell which are american. However all the key Iranian control computers use a secure version of Russian linux OS.

The core computers may be running Linux BUT Siemens SCADA software Simatic Win CC requires Windows OS to run.

 

[somebozo]

The core computers may be running Linux BUT Siemens SCADA software Simatic Win CC requires Windows OS to run.

Being an engineer myself, I know the fact very well..hence I mentioned "key computers". You know the KISS principle

 

[Markus]

Being an engineer myself, I know the fact very well..hence I mentioned "key computers". You know the KISS principle

Since you mentioned Linux, the point I am making is that it dosen't matter what OS they use and however secure it may be. SO far as they are dependent on Win CC they will have to rely on Windows OS and its vulnerabilities.

 

[somebozo]

self delete!

 

[Pasban]

The reasons are all political and of geographic strategics and beyond the scope of the topic of this thread.

You may count that as my opinion and its not necessary for our opinions to match.

You have indeed the right to your own views but that isn't what I was addressing. I was more interested in the reasons underlying your opinion on intentional exclusion in your views of Iran from nuclear energy. In my perspective, the addition of nuclear energy to Iran's power grid would do little to alter the geographic strategy or balance in the region. Iran has been investing in energy tremendously which includes a large hydroelectric and solar power program as well with the intended orientation being that Iran will become an energy exporter-- nuclear energy is an element of the triad, albeit evidently more politicized.

 

[Cheetah786]

---------- Post added at 10:35 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:34 PM ----------

[/COLOR]

I am not OK with a nuclear meltdown, dont put words in my mouth.
Everybody has their own opinion, understand that.

If Stuxnet is US/Israel sponsored and their motive is to prevent Iran from enabling a nuclear plant and if Stuxnet succeeds in doing that, the proposal to launch a military strike against Iran, then falls flat.[/QUOTE]

Originally Posted by Markus
On the contrary, I want Stuxnet to execute what it was created for. If Stuxnet succeeds in disabling Iran's nuclear plant (atleast some critical C/S components - SCADA, PLC and DCS), we can actually prevent a war, thousands of lives can be saved.

If req., Stuxnet may infuse malicious ladder programming code which may result in some industrial fireworks , again that is a better option, atleast then US or Israel will not have an excuse to go war with Iran.

I am not putting words in your mouth but it's also understood the same worm has been found in India correct me if i am wrong so if this worm will does the damage in Iranian nuclear power plant build by Russians you think Indian nuclear reactors will be spared form this destruction builds by Russians cause?

what you are trying to play here is as a Indian you do not want to see Iranians getting nukes and tactical balance in your opinion shifting so you are asking for the worm to destroy Iran reactor yet at the same time under the disguise of i do not wanna see humans being killed''Gandhi'' cause Americans will have an excuse to attack Iran you want the Iranians to loose the right to have a nuclear reactor am i right so far.

 

[Cheetah786]

JERUSALEM, Sept 28 (Reuters) - Cyber warfare has quietly grown into a central pillar of Israel's strategic planning, with a new military intelligence unit set up to incorporate high-tech hacking tactics, Israeli security sources said on Tuesday.

Israel's pursuit of options for sabotaging the core computers of foes like Iran, along with mechanisms to protect its own sensitive systems, were unveiled last year by the military intelligence chief, Major-General Amos Yadlin.

The government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has since set cyber warfare as a national priority, "up there with missile shields and preparing the homefront to withstand a future missile war", a senior source said on condition of anonymity.

Disclosures that a sophisticated computer worm, Stuxnet, was uncovered at the Bushehr atomic reactor and may have burrowed deeper into Iran's nuclear programme prompted foreign experts to suggest the Israelis were responsible. [nLDE68Q1MG]

Israel has declined to comment on any specific operations. Analysts say cyber capabilities offer it a stealthy alternative to the air strikes that it has long been expected to launch against Iran but which would face enormous operational hurdles as well as the risk of triggering regional war. [nLDE5BE29K]

According to security sources, over the last two years the military intelligence branch, which specialises in wiretaps, satellite imaging and other electronic espionage, has set up a dedicated cyber warfare unit staffed by conscripts and officers.

They would not say how much of the unit's work is offensive, but noted that Israeli cyber defences are primarily the responsibility of the domestic intelligence agency Shin Bet.

DENIABILITY

In any event, fending off or inflicting damage to sensitive digital networks are interconnected disciplines. Israeli high-tech firms, world leaders in information security, often employ veterans of military computing units.

Security sources said Israel awoke to the potential of cyber warfare in the late 1990s, when the Shin Bet hacked into a fuel depot to test security measures and then realised the system could be reprogrammed to crash or even cause explosions.

Israel's defence priorities suggest it may be shying away from open confrontation with the Iranians, whose nuclear facilities are distant, numerous, dispersed and well-fortified.

Even were its warplanes to manage a successful sortie, Israel would almost certainly suffer retaliatory Iranian missile salvoes worse than the short-range rocket attacks of Lebanese and Palestinian guerrillas in the 2006 and 2009 wars.

There would be a wider diplomatic reckoning: World powers are in no rush to see another Middle East conflagration, especially while sanctions are still being pursued against an Iranian nuclear programme which Tehran insists is peaceful.

An Israeli security source said Defence Ministry planners were still debating the relative merits of cyber warfare.

"It's deniable, and it's potent, but the damage it delivers is very hard to track and quantify," the source said. "When you send in the jets -- the target is there, and then it's gone." (Editing by Jon Boyle)

Reuters AlertNet - EXCLUSIVE-Cyber takes centre stage in Israel's war strategy



HILLARY HORROR: 'DEMON' PHOTO MOVED ON WIRE

 

[Markus]

You have indeed the right to your own views but that isn't what I was addressing. I was more interested in the reasons underlying your opinion on intentional exclusion in your views of Iran from nuclear energy. In my perspective, the addition of nuclear energy to Iran's power grid would do little to alter the geographic strategy or balance in the region. Iran has been investing in energy tremendously which includes a large hydroelectric and solar power program as well with the intended orientation being that Iran will become an energy exporter-- nuclear energy is an element of the triad, albeit evidently more politicized.

Again, we are going political on the bold part.

But without going into too many details, for me it would be, Iran's close links with Palestine, possible military dimensions to the nuclear program, lack of clarity on the status of non-compliance of NPT safeguards despite being a signatory among others.

Many (incl. you) may disagree but this is my birds eye view on the topic, hence, atleast for now, I support Stuxnet's objectives.

 

[Markus]

I am not putting words in your mouth but it's also understood the same worm has been found in India correct me if i am wrong so if this worm will does the damage in Iranian nuclear power plant build by Russians you think Indian nuclear reactors will be spared form this destruction builds by Russians cause?

Gentleman, sale of licensed Windows OS to Iran is restricted, while to India, its not. The patches are available to non-restricted countries (incl. India and Pakistan, which is also one of the affected countries).

And do you think the creators of Stuxnet are playing a "blind game" ?
The article suggests heavy insider involvement, its very much possible to trigger Stuxnet only on specific hardware which are pre-identified.

what you are trying to play here is as a Indian you do not want to see Iranians getting nukes and tactical balance in your opinion shifting so you are asking for the worm to destroy Iran reactor yet at the same time under the disguise of i do not wanna see humans being killed''Gandhi'' cause Americans will have an excuse to attack Iran you want the Iranians to loose the right to have a nuclear reactor am i right so far.

Pls read post#29