More on the Stuxnet Disclosure
Now a new disclosure in the ongoing battle to reveal more and more details about Stuxnet, the floodgates are open.
Photo credit: Eugene Kaspersky
Now the Wall Street Journal has established two new players, the CIA’s Information Operations Center and the Idaho National Laboratory, as being key members of the design team for Stuxnet, in an article here. According to the article:
The CIA declined to comment. The Department of Homeland Security declined to comment on behalf of Idaho National Lab, which is run by the Department of Energy but has joint programs with a number of government agencies.
I had a senior at the Department of Defense remark to me about these reports that ‘these reports are from newspapers, they’re not official’. Yes, but Woodward and Bernstein would beg to differ.
A senior cybersecurity expert shared with me a few thoughts about this situation:
- Stuxnet did not attack a critical infrastructure, it is not impacting the Iranian economy, as would an attack on the power grid or telecoms..
- It is not a broad spectrum campaign against many countries, but is rather very focused
- The more important consequences are:
- US diplomacy is going to take a hit
- This portrays the US as a less than moral actor
- This will motivate adversarial countries to redouble their efforts to develop weapons target US systems.
- Iran may respond with adversarial actions against our own infrastructure
- Was this a use of force, the attorneys are going to have a field day discussing this.
- This may strengthen the ITU’s position as cybersecurity lead
- Our diplomats will be forced to focus on this and not more important issues
Related articles
- U.S. created Stuxnet worm to wage “cyber war” against Iran on Obama’s orders – paper (panarmenian.net)
- Ex-CIA head: Stuxnet virus a “good idea” (cbsnews.com)
- You: Obama ‘sped up cyber-attacks’ on Iran’s nuclear programme (guardian.co.uk)
- New Book Claims President Obama Ordered Stuxnet Attack on Iran (eweek.com)
- Q&A of the week: ‘The current state of the cyber warfare threat’ featuring Jeffrey Carr (zdnet.com)
- The Stuxnet Story (dailywireless.org)
- Stuxnet Worm Crafted by U.S., Israel to Thwart Iran’s Nuclear Program (pcmag.com)
- Officials confirm, Stuxnet was a US-Israel Creation (cyberarms.wordpress.com)
- Barack Obama ‘ordered Stuxnet cyber attack on Iran’ (telegraph.co.uk)
- Obama ‘gave full backing to Stuxnet attack on Iran’ (newscientist.com)
- CIA, Department of Energy Behind Program to Attack Iran Computers (news.antiwar.com)
- Obama ‘gave full backing to Stuxnet attack on Iran’ (newscientist.com)
- Confirmed: US and Israel created Stuxnet, lost control of it (arstechnica.com)
- Suxnet is a US Program with Israeli Assistance (toinformistoinfluence.com)
- CIA, Department of Energy Behind Program to Attack Iran Computers (theuglytruth.wordpress.com)
- The US and Israel Tied to Stuxnet, The Navy Seeks to Tame Big Data, and More (sys-con.com)
- Risks of boomerangs a reality in world of cyberwar (seattlepi.com)
- As The Worm Turns: Cybersecurity Expert Tracks Blowback From Stuxnet (wnyc.org)
- Obama personally approved use of Stuxnet computer virus against Iran (shortformblog.com)
- What Stuxnet’s Exposure As An American Weapon Means For Cyberwar (forbes.com)
- Forthcoming Book Claims US Created Stuxnet (novainfosecportal.com)
- Why Antivirus Companies Like Mine Failed to Catch Flame and Stuxnet (wired.com)
- Officials confirm, Stuxnet was a US-Israel Creation (shirokanzaki.com)
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