Israel Matzav

Iran has neutralized Stuxnet?

Reuters is reporting that Iran has neutralized the Stuxnet computer worm that had infected its nuclear facilities.

US and European officials, who insisted on anonymity when discussing a highly sensitive subject, said their governments' experts agreed that the Iranians had succeeded in disabling Stuxnet and getting it out of their machinery.

The officials declined to provide any details on how their governments verified that the Iranians had ultimately defeated the virus. It was not clear when it occurred but secrecy on the subject has been so tight that news is only now emerging.

Some officials said they believe that the Iranians were helped in their efforts by Western cyber security experts, whose detailed technical analyses of Stuxnet's computer code have circulated widely on the Internet.

...

Private experts say that however well-crafted the original Stuxnet was, whoever created it probably would have to be even more clever if they want to try to supplant it with new cyber-weapons directed at Iran's nuclear program.

"Aspects of Stuxnet could be re-used, but it is important to understand that its success depended not only on 'clever coding' but also required a great deal of specific intelligence and testing. It was the first known highly-targeted cyber-weapon, as opposed to more usual cyber weapons which are more diffuse in their targeting," Sommer said.

David Albright, a former United Nations weapons inspector who has extensively investigated Iran's nuclear program for the private Institute for Science and International Security, which he leads, said that spy agencies would have to go back to the drawing board if they're intent on continuing to try to hobble Iran's nuclear program via cyber-warfare.

Unfortunately, cutesy solutions like Stuxnet aren't likely to carry the day anymore anyway. We need another approach.

Labels: Iranian nuclear threat, Stuxnet

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 8:44 PM