There has been hype in a lot of circles that America created Stuxnet to shut down Iran's nuclear program. Its not just stuff conspiracies are made of and has been widely reported by New York Times, Cnet, PCworld, and Wired that Stuxnex was a joint American and Israeli effort to shut down Iran's nuclear infrastructure. Iran has now successfully gotten Stuxnet off of their nuclear information systems. It was very effective in shutting down their nuclear systems and I wouldn't be surprised if a similar virus were to shut down their systems again in the future. I'd expect escalation of a cyber war before I was concerned about a nuclear war. I'd bet good money on whether or not the US and Israel are working on another means of cyber attack to cripple Iran's nuclear program. My thoughts on the subject are this: America and Israel are just playing hardball to buy time until the means of cyber attack is finished. Also, America's hardball stance gives Obama a chance to prove he can be a war hawk president. Gets him a better standing in the upcoming election which he can use to illuminate the lack of resolve in the current Republican string of candidates. Playing hard ball buys time for a more permanent solutions, buys Obama more votes, and won't cost the US or Israel much in PR points around the world.
It is good to keep in mind that this "cyber attack" was not just messing with the controls, it actually damaged the centrifuges - its action was to overspeed them so they would fly apart. We will see similar actions when attacks occur on OUR very brittle, unprotected infrastructure. Power plants, power grid, dams, traffic signal lights, FAA air control, water supply utilities, all can be knocked out of commission or damaged in minor and major ways by cyber attack. Imagine another 2 week power outage across a third of the USA, or a major city like Los Angeles with no water.
It is , and Dave accurately defines key areas of future warfare . To the best of my knowledge , Russia first used big time Cyber War Fare successfully in August 2008 , when they turned round an awful first two days start to their war , by overthrowing Tiblisi and the complete command structure between Gov't and the Military , within 12 hours . Through massive Cyber warfare which they had rehearsed in Estonia in 2007 . It literally brought Georgia to a standstill What has amazed me is why extremist groups have not used these techniques since. Bombs seem frankly pathetic when you might kill a million or more by poisoning water supplies .From a Terrorist perspective , that is . I don't know whether Stuxnet has been nullified . But I bet there are hundreds of experts developing variations and new worms , sponsored by unlimited funds . If you could "do" a Georgia on Iran when a pre- emptive strike finally occurs , it could save countless lives .
Granny says tell `em to quit tryin' to develop the bomb an' mebbe we'll give `em the fix fer it... Obama Order Sped Up Wave of Cyberattacks Against Iran June 1, 2012 WASHINGTON From his first months in office, President Obama secretly ordered increasingly sophisticated attacks on the computer systems that run Irans main nuclear enrichment facilities, significantly expanding Americas first sustained use of cyberweapons, according to participants in the program.
So is Iran going to release their anti-virus program? I wonder if my PC is infected after all these computer-virus weapons have been swimming around the world. Also it's times like these that I wonder why companies aren't reinvesting in old-style clockwork mechanics again. You can't hack a gear. Well actually you can, but you need to be next to it..
A good portion of the conflicts occuring in the ME right now are all proxy wars between Iran and the US. The US may by directly fighting "extremists" in the ME, but these extremists are being supported by Iran. Just as the US cladenstinly supported those fighting against the USSR, Iran is doing the same for those fighting the US.
Uncle Ferd says it bought Israel time too - otherwise dey'd be nuked to a crisp by now... Cyber-attacks "bought us time" on Iran: U.S. sources WASHINGTON | Sat Jun 2, 2012 - The United States under former President George W. Bush began building a complex cyber-weapon to try to prevent Tehran from completing suspected nuclear weapons work without resorting to risky military strikes against Iranian facilities, current and former U.S. officials familiar with the program said.
Stuxnet goes back further than first thought... Report: Stuxnet cyberweapon older than believed Feb 27,`13 -- The sophisticated cyberweapon which targeted an Iranian nuclear plant is older than previously believed, an anti-virus company said Tuesday, peeling back another layer of mystery on a series of attacks attributed by many to U.S. and Israeli intelligence.
Iran's chief hacker gets wasted... Iranian cyber warfare commander shot dead in suspected assassination 2 Oct 2013 ~ The head of Irans cyber warfare programme has been shot dead, triggering further accusations that outside powers are carrying out targeted assassinations of key figures in the countrys security apparatus.