That stux.

[DaveB]

Thanks for the explanation DaveB, I'm not clued up on uranium enrichment.

Neither was I before this, but we run a lot of Siemens SCADA systems so it was a case of finding out exactly what it was supposed to be doing and if we needed to worry about it

[Doggy Styles]

I think the USA have come clean, although I'm not sure why.

Many countries are doing this kind of thing, whether it be industrial or political motives, causing damage or just stealing information.

Thanks for the explanation DaveB, I'm not clued up on uranium enrichment.

[Doggy Styles]

How did it manage to damage bomb-making equipment that inspectors have never managed to find?

Why is there no international outrage at this assault on a sovereign nation's infrastructure?

Iran is desperate to end its dependency upon oil hence its investment in nuclear energy. Why is the USA & Israel allowed to prevent that?

PS it ain't a virus unless it propagates. It is just industrial sabotage.

Personally, I think the USA is still desperate for a war with Iran, but cannot find an excuse to start one so is trying to provoke Iran into starting one.

An attack on their nuclear power industry is a legitimate reason for Iran to go to a war footing.

Be afraid. The USA is still run by pro-Israelis + oil company interests + fundamental Baptist Christian rednecks.

As I understand it, the weapons inspectors were in Iraq, not Iran, unless they let them in there as well.

And also as I understand it, it is indeed a virus that propogates through laptops and stuff, but only damages the target systems.

As for the rest, most if not all of Iran's neighbours in the middle east see Iran as a much greater threat than the USA or Israel, and supported (in some cases demanded) action to damage her nuclear bomb program. Using a virus was preferable to bombing the facilities.

So rather than international outrage, I'd guess there have been silent cheers all round.

Perhaps it only delays the day when a rogue state sets off one of these, but it gives England another chance to win the world cup.

[DaveB]

How did it manage to damage bomb-making equipment that inspectors have never managed to find?

Because this isn't bomb making equipment and no-one has claimed it was. It is equipment for producing enriched Uranium. That enriched uranium can then be used in a civilian reactor for research or power production, or further enriched to a weapons grade material. At no point is any of the affected equipment actually producing weapons.

Why is there no international outrage at this assault on a sovereign nation's infrastructure?

Because currently no-one can prove who did it. There are suspicions but that's all.

Iran is desperate to end its dependency upon oil hence its investment in nuclear energy. Why is the USA & Israel allowed to prevent that?

Can you prove that the US and Israel did it? Without evidence of their involvement there are no grounds for action against them.

PS it ain't a virus unless it propagates. It is just industrial sabotage.

Stuxnet has been found in the wild and there are known to be thousands of infected systems worldwide, this is how it was first identified. It will infect any Siemens SCADA system but will only carry out it's intended actions when a particular type of micro controller is found in that system.

Personally, I think the USA is still desperate for a war with Iran, but cannot find an excuse to start one so is trying to provoke Iran into starting one.

An attack on their nuclear power industry is a legitimate reason for Iran to go to a war footing.

Be afraid. The USA is still run by pro-Israelis + oil company interests + fundamental Baptist Christian rednecks.

[DaveB]

Can someone explain how the Stuxnet virus put Iran's nuclear bomb program back by four years?

I know it caused some of the centrifuges to break, but only 15% of them.

By the way, it sounds a right clever bit of virusing.

Depends on who you listen to but some estimates say they lost up to a third of their production capacity and had extended periods of no production at all.

The centrifuges don't operate in isolation, they run in cascades with the output from one feeding the next one in line and typically have 1000's operating in sequence. Loss of just one results in a complete shut down of the process and repair or replacement may not be straight forward, not to mention collateral damage to other systems caused by the damage to the centrifuge.

Top that with the fact that Iran may not find it easy to source repairs or replacements due to international sanctions and years of lost time is entirely possible.

The latest reports indicate it may have been a joint effort between US and Israeli security services with the US providing access to the required centrifuge hardware for testing. Whoever it was they knew exactly what they were targeting and had put a lot of effort into making sure it worked reliably and in a manner that would be extremely hard to detect.

[amcdonald]

Be afraid. The USA is still run by pro-Israelis + oil company interests + fundamental Baptist Christian rednecks.

I'd rather that than the Chinese still, better the devil you know

[RichardCranium]

How did it manage to damage bomb-making equipment that inspectors have never managed to find?

Why is there no international outrage at this assault on a sovereign nation's infrastructure?

Iran is desperate to end its dependency upon oil hence its investment in nuclear energy. Why is the USA & Israel allowed to prevent that?

PS it ain't a virus unless it propagates. It is just industrial sabotage.

Personally, I think the USA is still desperate for a war with Iran, but cannot find an excuse to start one so is trying to provoke Iran into starting one.

An attack on their nuclear power industry is a legitimate reason for Iran to go to a war footing.

Be afraid. The USA is still run by pro-Israelis + oil company interests + fundamental Baptist Christian rednecks.

[Doggy Styles]

Can someone explain how the Stuxnet virus put Iran's nuclear bomb program back by four years?

I know it caused some of the centrifuges to break, but only 15% of them.

By the way, it sounds a right clever bit of virusing.

[Pondlife]

Except it spreads by USB stick.

linky

Exactly. Business decides to do some file transfer on the quiet and ...

[Sysman]

Yeah, it's amazing how many of certain companies' locked down, isolated, firewalled, process control networks are potentially at risk cos the business likes a quick and dirty 'interface' between systems.

Except it spreads by USB stick.

linky

[Ignis Fatuus]

Yeah, it's amazing how many of certain companies' locked down, isolated, firewalled, process control networks are potentially at risk cos the business likes a quick and dirty 'interface' between systems.

Not my clients' obviously you understand.

The peculiarity of Stuxnet is that only one site is at risk.

[Pondlife]

Yeah, it's amazing how many of certain companies' locked down, isolated, firewalled, process control networks are potentially at risk cos the business likes a quick and dirty 'interface' between systems.

Not my clients' obviously you understand.

[SupremeSpod]

[Ignis Fatuus]

any interesting insights on Stuxnet?