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Russell Mickler, Principal Consultant, has over 17 years of professional experience leading and managing IT organizations.
Stuxnet Represents a New Phase in Malware Evolution
Written on September 28, 2010
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Malware has been commonly associated with being a simple annoyance that interrupts the use of personal computers. No more. Stuxnet represents the future: intelligent, targeted malware.
Stuxnet is the computer virus (technically, a self-replicating virus referred to as a worm) written to infect and compromise Siemans industrial computer and software products. Siemans products are found the world-over like in Iran, Indonesia, and India, and each of these countries have been battling for control over computer systems that regulate industrial processes like waste treatment, electricity, water management, and nuclear facilities.
Iran believes they were the target of this worm. Officials have released sketchy information on the nature of the virus, but it’s believed to be very well organized and constructed, requiring a great deal of resources, planning, and knowledge to pull it off.
Although I’m completely speculating, what Stuxnet could represent is a cyberattack by Mossad – Israel’s intelligence department; Stuxnet could also represent a non-state actor taking some retaliatory action against Iran, perhaps even somebody internal to Iran – it’s not like Iran is totally popular with the younger generation following last year’s elections.
Certainly what Stuxnet represents, though, is the successful design, funding, development, and release of a weapon that can target the industrial computing environments of nation-states. At least, to the degree the public has been made aware of such things, this is an extraordinarily important moment. Stuxnet should also give us pause in the private sector. What’s to prevent a Stuxnet-like variant from being deployed to hunt/cripple private computer systems of industry and business? Not much. And Siemans has a wide installation of medical products… I wonder if Stuxnet could threaten medical data processing systems? Now that sounds horrific.
Regardless, it’s an interesting time. In Stuxnet, we’ve just witnessed the dawn of a new era of intelligent, targeted malware. Get ready, folks … new and even more effective variants are likely right around the corner.
R