The US Ordered the Stuxnet Virus Attack, Claims NYT
Well, we aways suspected it, but now we have confirmation of our fears: the US is responsible for the Stuxnet virus that attacked Iran's nuclear plants before escaping into the wild.
Stuxnet was the most sophisticated virus ever seen, and many felt that whatever government deployed it had used it as an act of war. The virus was wildly successful, too, managing to disable 1,000 of Iran's 5,000 centrifuges.
Stuxnet was a project started by Bush that was accelerated by President Obama. Even though he was worried about the ramifications of it escaping--he was quoted as asking "should we shut this thing down?"--he ordered the attacks to continue.
The project wasn't very conspicuous, either. They codenamed it 'Olympic Games' and collaborated heavily with Israel on the project.
The more recent 'Flame' worm is not thought to be part of the Stuxnet program, probably instead being from another interested party in the region.
Stuxnet specifically targeted Seimens industrial equipment and caused the centrifuges to spin faster than they could tolerate, causing them to break. Apparently the program was a success, and that might be one of the reasons why Iran is even less happy with us than usual. We must have had an actual impact on their ability to produce uranium.
But the fact remains that this is an act of cyberwarfare, the key word being warfare. President Obama has apparently decided against attacking other nations with digital weapons, probably for fear that they will retaliate with real ones.
The entire article is a fascinating read and delves into the history of the worm and how the program spun out of control. If you have the time and happen to be an enthusiast of both politics and computers, well, you can't find a more interesting tale than that of the first known cyberweapon.
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