A new form of modern warfare-specially targeted computer viruses-may no longer be just the wave of the future. Cyber security experts claim to have identified Stuxnet as the first cyber super weapon designed to take down a specific target. At least one expert believes that target-Iran’s Bushehr nuclear plant, considered a possible nuclear threat-may have already been attacked by the worm.
Since being detected in June, Stuxnet has been studied closely by cyber experts, and with each breakthrough has come a raft of new and heavier questions about its design and purpose. Many of these experts believe Stuxnet marks the beginning of a revolution in modern warfare, the ability for something from the digital realm to destroy something very much real.
The malware is so large, so encrypted and so complex that it must have been the brainchild of a massive project involving a lot of time, money and expertise. The virus has the ability to take hold without the user even taking any action, such as clicking a button. After months of intensive reverse engineering, experts have concluded that Stuxnet differs from ‘traditional’ malware in that it does not seek to steal data, but rather to seek out and destroy one target and one target only.
Researcher feel that the ultra-sophisticated program must have been created by a team with great purpose and resources, such as a nation state. Stuxnet is the first worm known to target Supervisory Control Data Acquisition Software (SCADA) used to run plants and factories, and experts are fearful about its possible mischievous applications. In addition to being able to industrial data and secrets, the bug appears to have the ability to take control of infected systems-which in the case of a nuclear reactor is particularly troubling.
“Until a few days ago, people did not believe a directed attack like this was possible. What Stuxnet represents is a future in which people with the funds will be able to buy an attack like this on the black market. This is now a valid concern. . .
Stuxnet is a 100-percent-directed cyber attack aimed at destroying an industrial process in the physical world. This is not about espionage, as some have said. This is a 100 percent sabotage attack.”
Stuxnet has so far infected at least 45,000 industrial control systems around the world, causing some major computer problems but destroying little to nothing. Most victim computers are reportedly in Iran, Pakistan, India and Indonesia. In July, a geographical distribution of computers hit by Stuxnet produced by Microsoft find Iran to be the epicenter of the infections, leading some to believe that the US or Israel, both with known cyber war capabilities, could be behind the virus.
Langner, who believes the virus could have been spread by a Russian contractor who worked on Iran’s Bushehr plant, continues:
“Stuxnet is the key for a very specific lock – in fact, there is only one lock in the world that it will open. The whole attack is not at all about stealing data but about manipulation of a specific industrial process at a specific moment in time. This is not generic. It is about destroying that process. . .
After the original code [on the PLC] is no longer executed, we can expect that something will blow up soon. Something big. . .
This will all eventually come out and Stuxnet’s target will be known. If Bushehr wasn’t the target and it starts up in a few months, well, I was wrong. But somewhere out there, Stuxnet has found its target. We can be fairly certain of that.”
For now, there are more questions than answers, but one thing is for sure: modern warfare appears headed for a revolution that could turn the world even further upside down. Just as guns, tanks, and nuclear weapons before them, lets hope these weapons don’t fall into the wrong hands.
