http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2003_North_America_blackout
| Submit your comments on this article |
| Syria-Lebanon-Iran |
| Stuxnet file hints at Israeli link: NY Times |
| 2010-10-01 |
| [Dawn] The Stuxnet worm attacking computers in Iran includes a reference to the Book of Esther, the Old Testament story in which the Jews pre-empt a Persian plot to destroy them, and is a possible clue of Israeli involvement, The New York Times reported on Thursday. A file inside the Stuxnet code is named "Myrtus," an allusion to the Hebrew word for Esther, and is a possible Israeli calling card or, perhaps, a "red herring" designed to throw investigators off the track, the Times said. According to security software experts and analysts, Stuxnet may have been designed to target Iran's nuclear facilities and suspicions have fallen on Israel and the United States. Iran said this week that Stuxnet is mutating and wreaking havoc on computerised industrial equipment there but denied the Islamic republic's first nuclear plant at Bushehr was among the facilities penetrated. Stuxnet specifically attacks Siemens supervisory control and data acquisition, or SCADA, systems commonly used to manage water supplies, oil rigs, power plants and other industrial facilities. The self-replicating malware has also been found lurking on Siemens systems in India, Indonesia and Pakistain, but the heaviest infiltration appears to be in Iran, according to researchers. No one has claimed credit for Stuxnet and a top US cybersecurity official said last week that the United States does not know who is behind it or its purpose. The Times noted that there is no consensus among security experts about who may be behind Stuxnet but said "there are many reasons to suspect Israel's involvement."Israel has poured huge resources into Unit 8200, its secretive cyberwar operation, and Stuxnet may be a "clear warning in a mounting technological and psychological battle" with Iran over its nuclear program, the newspaper said. The Times said Ralph Langner, a German computer security consultant, was the first to note that "Myrtus" is an allusion to the Hebrew word for Esther. Shai Blitzblau, head of the computer warfare laboratory at Maglan, an Israeli company specializing in information security, told the Times he was "convinced that Israel had nothing to do with Stuxnet.""We did a complete simulation of it and we sliced the code to its deepest level," he said. "We have studied its protocols and functionality. Our two main suspects for this are high-level industrial espionage against Siemens and a kind of academic experiment." |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #25 No race baiting here, none needed with the emotion laden sensibilities that unfortunately continue to periodically surface. LOL. You get 'em. SA, Georgian, Expert in all things, most of all a stone cold hater of JOOOOS, Africans, African-Americans and all things that make you wet your pants. Damn, I hate paying your lazy ass thru taxes. You are a tick..... am I right? |
| Posted by: Goldies Every Damn Where 2010-10-01 20:43 |
| #24 It's not nice to steal intellectual property. In the 21st century, intellectual property steals you! |
| Posted by: SteveS 2010-10-01 15:27 |
| #23 "It's highly unlikely the Iranian's caught stuxnet from pr0n sites. Among other design characteristics, it is highly optimized to features of the specific equipment the Iranians use, burrowing down into embedded controllers inside of industrial machines." - lotp Killjoy. ;-p |
| Posted by: Barbara Skolaut 2010-10-01 15:18 |
| #22 My OPC and SNMP buddies are telling me that this little jewel has shown up in the 'Middle Kingdom', too. They figure someone hacked Siemen's proprietary S7 and/or 3964R 'machine communications' protocol based on the equipment it was controlling. |
| Posted by: Mullah Richard 2010-10-01 14:59 |
| #21 Can't confirm it but there seems to be some buzz on the internet about the Siemens equipment/software being bootlegged. That way, if there is a patch, Iranians wouldn't have access to it. Knowing the Chicoms, that would make them vulnerable as well. I've been googling it but can't find anything definite. I'd be interested in finding out whether or not this is true. It's not nice to steal intellectual property. |
| Posted by: Ebbang Uluque6305 2010-10-01 14:16 |
| #20 It's highly unlikely the Iranian's caught stuxnet from pr0n sites So the Stuxnet code can't be embedded into a goat s3x .mpeg? That would have every computer in the middle east on the fritz. |
| Posted by: bigjim-CA 2010-10-01 13:32 |
| #19 Christianity, especially proselytizing Christianity, is a critical component in the fight against Islamic fascism. So are UAV strikes, but we don't execute them here - although we report the results from time to time. Feel free to do the same re: Xian conversions from Islam. |
| Posted by: lotp 2010-10-01 13:13 |
| #18 It's highly unlikely the Iranian's caught stuxnet from pr0n sites. Among other design characteristics, it is highly optimized to features of the specific equipment the Iranians use, burrowing down into embedded controllers inside of industrial machines. |
| Posted by: lotp 2010-10-01 13:11 |
| #17 Just imagine all the fun those Mossad guys had luring the Iranian techies to their goat pr0n sites! |
| Posted by: Ebbang Uluque6305 2010-10-01 13:00 |
| #16 Has anyone postulated that the virus came from surfing pr0n sites? Surfing pr0n sites really is a good way to get STDs on your computer. So with all those repressed Shiites looking at goat pr0n it had to happen sooner or later. |
| Posted by: Ebbang Uluque6305 2010-10-01 12:58 |
| #15 I read your post after I had hit 'send.' I totally agree with your learned assessment. My cmnts were meant to lighten the load a bit, nothing more. |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2010-10-01 12:19 |
| #14 Wasn't quite what I had in mind, Besoeker - meant it as a purely pragmatic comment on the value of certain groups under (non-)discussion - but, hey, if it helps you out..... |
| Posted by: Glenmore 2010-10-01 12:15 |
| #13 This is indeed a first and I am needless to say, quite honored to be referred to as a Christian prosletyzer, if only at the "fringes." And whom did you tell about me sinner Besoeker, and what good deeds have you done? Well sir, very few good deeds, but I wrote about you once or twice from the fringes on the Burg. Marginal Besoeker, very marginal, but the line is down again today and the table is set. Good enough my son, enter and enjoy the bobotie and Castle. |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2010-10-01 12:09 |
| #12 Christianity, especially proselytizing Christianity, is a critical component in the fight against Islamic fascism. We must not throw out the baby with the bathwater. Unless we are going to 'kill them all' (which I am certain we do not have the stomach for), we have to change them. Since their movement does have a strong spiritual component, an alternative spiritual component will be helpful. Could be animist or Buddhist or Hindu, but Islam shares a common heritage with Christianity and Judaism. There's too much associated emotional baggage with the latter, which leaves Christianity. |
| Posted by: Glenmore 2010-10-01 12:06 |
| #11 I have it on good authority that the Stuxnet worm is just a diversion to keep Iran from finding the real worm/virus/backdoor until it's too late. But let's just keep it among ourselves - no point in tipping Ahma-Dinnah-Jacket off.... |
| Posted by: Barbara Skolaut 2010-10-01 11:59 |
| #10 Does this virus download and install more code once it has control of the machine? Mutating, counter attacking, changing its tactics, that sounds fairly sophisticated for a 760kb file. Has anyone postulated that the virus came from surfing pr0n sites? Those donkey s3x pages are probably a virulent cesspool of trojans and worms. |
| Posted by: bigjim-CA 2010-10-01 11:48 |
| #9 The problem with the article you posted yesterday wasn't that it contained 'the slightest mention of Christianity' but rather that it prosletyzed a particular (and parenthetically somewhat fringe) theological position. We don't do that for Islam, for Judaism, for Hinduism or - for that matter - for material secularism. It's not what the Burg is here for. There are plenty of other venues for that sort of thing if you feel strongly about it.The purpose of the Burg is not to proclaim an End Times sermon from a particular protestant Christian perspective - or to proclaim any other sermon, either. And before you tell me that the opinion in that article is relevant to the GWOT, well ... taken sufficiently far so are a whole lot of opinions. We don't post those here either. Our valued Rantburg regulars come from a range of religious and ethnic affiliations. What we all share in common is that we value Western civilization and wish both to clearly name the threats to that civilization and also to defend it against them. |
| Posted by: lotp 2010-10-01 11:35 |
| #8 Guests and contributors yes indeed, and most respectful of the privilege I might add. No race baiting here, none needed with the emotion laden sensibilities that unfortunately continue to periodically surface. But please, do tell me just where do we come down? As I mentioned yesterday, how is it that we can discuss Islam and our collective concerns regarding the plight of Israel ad nauseum, but the slightest mention of Christianity gets the boot? I honestly believe we can do better, and should. You've worn me out. I must let it rest. |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2010-10-01 11:19 |
| #7 If framed in a more Rabbinical context, could it then muster the ruler's rulings....or is it just me? Leaving aside the absurdity of suggesting that Fred Pruitt's website, where we are guests, is anti-Christian, isn't it a little early in the day for Jew-baiting Besoeker? |
| Posted by: lotp 2010-10-01 11:04 |
| #6 You are not alone. |
| Posted by: Nimble Spemble 2010-10-01 10:16 |
| #5 My entirely 'civil, well Reasoned discourse' hyperlink Yahoo news clip and comment in reference to Fred's Stuxnet post was snipped from #4 as well? Was it Yahoo's bold reference to Christianity? If framed in a more Rabbinical context, could it then muster the ruler's rulings....or is it just me? I am at a complete loss. Please advise. |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2010-10-01 10:15 |
| #4 Taking a chance running this one up the flag pole after yesterday, but.... here goes: The New York Times is marginally more respectable a news source than Hal Lindsey (or whatever his name was), Besoeker. ;-) Thank you for so gracefully accepting the ruling yesterday. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2010-10-01 09:12 |
| #3 SCADA, reminds me of the Ohio blackout of 2003. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2003_North_America_blackout |
| Posted by: Skidmark 2010-10-01 07:28 |
| #2 I put that there just to mess with their minds. |
| Posted by: gorb 2010-10-01 02:44 |
| #1 "convinced that Israel had nothing to do with Stuxnet." Certainly not. This worm is way too amateurish. :-) |
| Posted by: gorb 2010-10-01 01:32 |