PJM Exclusive: Stuxnet Has Completely Paralyzed Iran’s Bushehr Plant
The Revolutionary Guards have confirmed that the Iranian Center for Non-Military Preemptive Defense was created with the cooperation of the Ministry of Defense, which conducted a study and coordinated among 77 companies in Iran. Each of the companies is involved in the field of information technology and production, and each has been called upon to make a formal presentation of their products to Iranian authorities. Though there have been major setbacks and delays, Iran is said to be relying on only Iranian experts in this matter.
Due to the extra attention on the industrial sectors of the country, all of which are stationed in southern Iran, the danger for the virus to strike other parallel industrial systems that are related to the energy sector is entirely possible.
Given the fact that Kraftwerk Union (KWU) — a subsidiary company of Siemens — and other Russian companies such as Atom Stroi Export have not responded, the Iranian regime authorities are said to be actively seeking the supreme leader’s blessing to create an alternative power station other than Bushehr. Iranian authorities had not imagined that the work stoppage created by the virus would be so extensive. And last week, the Iranian parliamentary committee stated that the Islamic Republic would probably have been better off building a new nuclear power plant from scratch instead of constantly trying to finish the decades-old Bushehr.
Bushehr was supposed to join the power grid last year, but in March the fuel was removed from the reactor due to technical difficulties. The Russian contractors building Bushehr announced on April 8 that refueling of the nuclear plant was once more underway. The head of the plant had confirmed that all necessary inspections have been carried out to complete satisfaction, and that the plant is ready for the fuel to be transferred into the heart of the reactor.
(Also see: Iran announces discovery of new cyber attack.)
“The Russian contractors building Bushehr announced on April 8 that refueling of the nuclear plant was once more underway. The head of the plant had confirmed that all necessary inspections have been carried out to complete satisfaction, and that the plant is ready for the fuel to be transferred into the heart of the reactor.”
Sure, and these were probably the same Russian contractors that built the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. While I’m thrilled and happy at the effect this has had on the Iranian nuclear program, I’m kind of afraid at how the Iranians will react to this. The Iranian leadership has already made noises that they would retaliate against the United States with an attack on our own power grids, which would probably be easy to do and would have a devestating impact on both this country and our economy. There is also a possiblity of and Electro-Magnetic Pulse (EMP) bomb going off, which would also have a huge impact on either a state or a section of our nation. So although this is good news about what Stuxnet did to the Iranians, I’m very concerned about what they will do to us. And with Janet Napolitano in charge of Homeland Security, you should ALL be VERY afraid too.
The Iranians could also attack us using palette jacks which could overwhelm every flat state in the union.
Any way, I hardened my car against EMP bursts; it only gets 1 mile to the gallon but at least I’m safe.
Suave, sophisticated, a veritable gusher of politically correct information management: our James May.
Sorry, I meant, ‘Arab’s are killing each other in the middle east saving Mossad hundreds of hours of overtime pay, let’s nuke them while they’re distracted.’
What is the purpose of this article?
What happens when we wake up one morning and find out that Iran nuked Israel out of existence?
Where is the Obama administration?
Blowing off another Christian holiday like he did Easter?
Can you say, “Sucker Punch..?”
Of course, none of this is to say that Iran won’t BUY the bomb, in fact, they may already have.But what it means is that their means of production has been stymied-to say the least.
Further, the overthrow of the Iranian Hitler and his goose stepping goons is of WORLD importance.
Faster…….as to Obama-when pigs fly he will stop them.It is up to others, whoever/wherever they are.
Re: Adina Kutnicki, Israel
I brought Israel into the picture because Israel has historically effectively dealt with the world’s most serious threats when most of the world hid trembling with fear.
I brought Obama into the picture to illustrate what the world is like in the absence of a leader; given that leadership is what the world expects from the United States.
While the article is interesting; even encouraging it should be considered academic until 100% of the Iranian threat is eliminated, which also means directly dealing with China and Russia among others.
Figuratively speaking I’m from Missouri.
That means before I will rest I want to see the beast’s head on a platter along with my mashed potatoes and gravy.
For those who did not understand the Missouri reference, Missourians are famously skeptical. The state motto is “The Show-Me State”, as in “show me, don’t tell me”.
“..until 100% of the Iranian threat is eliminated, which also means directly dealing with China and Russia among others.”
were is Gengis Khan when you need him?
What happens when we wake up one morning and find out that Iran nuked Israel out of existence?
The world rejoices and once again there is peace in the Middle East.
Oh, and the American taxpayer is no longer on the hook for $billions in welfare every year to the Israelis.
Nice. The mass murder of millions of men, women, and children by fascistic dicatators and you cheer for the barbarians.
By any objective measure, the Zionists and the Muslims are equally barbaric.
Just look at the comments in any PJM article involving Israel or “anti-Semitism”. The Israel supporters ALWAYS make comments about unleashing nuclear weapons on entire civilian populations in Lebanon, Iran, and Egypt.
Last week some of you barbarians were openly fantasizing about going to war with Norway because of “anti-Semitism” against Alan Dershowitz.
Granted, the Muslims are no better or worse. But as an objective observer here in California, I see no difference between the religious freaks in Israel and the religious freaks in Tehran.
No Israel supporters do not always call for nuclear or other such attacks.
I am as pro Israel as anyone. I have never called for anything like that. Nor has Israel policy and practice done so. That capability has existed for some time now. If you bother to look at where Israel has gone in military technology it is the exact opposite of that. Weapon systems and tactics are nothing like what some idiot posts here.
So you are swatting at flies. Easy stuff when somebody with a buzz on says ‘nuke em all’. Then you miss the point.
Targeting civilians is what the other brave warriors who can target a yellow school bus with their high tech russian anti tank missile (you were supposed to use them against tanks idiots) do. Not Israel.
Don’t like PJM? No problem. Lots of websites I dont like.
He’s got a point about the calls for pre-emptive strikes against Arabs – there’s an awful lot of it here and by regulars and done with glee.
That’s a double standard. If you’re going to just take sides then do so but don’t dress it up like you’re any different from the other side when it comes to such blithe expressions of hate.
If you truly see the Zionists and Muslims as equally barbaric then you need a serious vision enema.
And No, you’re not being objective. You’re being myopic, uninformed and rather retarded, despite your evident fluency.
Sick. Stupid.
Celebrated your uncle Adolf’s birthday last week, Eichmann Jr? People like you are the one who need to be excised from humanity – the Nurnberg trials have given us ample evidence of that.
obama is helping his muslim brothers to surround Israel and destroy Israel. Why do you think obama armed and trained the palestinians!
Welcome news. Former IDF chief was correct when he said Iran will be attacked by 2010 November. Moral of story. Don’t judge creators of Intel by the real-estate they occupy in Haifa.
We can all thank Unit 8200, working hand in glove with Mossadniks, for these devastating attacks. This does not mean that ‘other’ players weren’t involved-intentionally or otherwise.But the fact of the matter is that not only is Unit 8200 more than capable to ‘mastermind’ this cyberwarfare,(those in the know in Israel know this for a fact) but the Mossad is buried deep in Iranian infrastructure.
Yes, they are……
By the way, BEFORE Stuxnet was discovered, a few hints were dropped by Israeli sources of the mayhem to come, of course, with plausible deniable smokescreens in tow.
Payback is a bitch.
There was a time when the leadership of the United States also was dedicated to the preservation of Western civilization.
Pray that those days return again in 2012.
Israel cannot save the world alone. But it’s good to see how near extermination, proximity to total evil, and good genes can sharpen minds and stiffen spines in a tiny country that by all odds ought to have been wiped out 4 times in 40 years. What a testament to the power of life and determination.
Thanks for shouldering the burden while we, hopefully, remove the marxists who are at the brink of returning all of us to the dark ages.
As a side note, expect to see little lenin attempt to take credit for Stuxnet before the 2012 elections.
1. Turn off computer and effected systems.
2. Replace hard drive with clean one.
3. Turn on computer.
4. Reload operating system and associated software from clean backups.
Now someone please explain why STUXNET is still a problem. Don’t tell me you actually believe reports from places like “Iranian Center for Non-Military Preemptive Defense” (which BTW sounds like a completely lefty organization).
In other words, what independent sources do we have that confirm any of this?
If it were that easy, then why do we have such problems with spambots and such today? The biggest issue is trying to isolate the machines that are infected. Not always an easy task. Especially if they are networked across multiple sites. If you miss even one, then all the work that you put into replace/reboot/reload is for naught.
I’m not saying it can’t be done. And they’ve probably already put a lot of effort into this very thing. But if the virus was as well-written as has been suggested, then it’s an incredibly difficult task to fulfill.
And your larger question about source is fair. There’s a lot here that seems to be taken on faith. I’d like to believe it’s so, but independent confirmation would really be nice. Such is the world of intelligence gathering.
Ragnar
““Iranian Center for Non-Military Preemptive Defense” (which BTW sounds like a completely lefty organization).”
Do believe you are right on the money. It’s quite possible that “lefty organization” originates in the good old U.S.A.
Let’s see now, we have “Medicare Independent Advisory Board“, for rationing, “Kinetic Military Operation”, for warfare, “The I Don’t Give About The U.S. I Just Want A Second Term Committee”, Saul Alinsky Institute For Destruction of Nations”, “I Survived The Salem Witch Burnings Frances Ford Piven Foundation”…
5. Reconnect to contaminated network.
6. Discover that the worm has mutated again and reinfected your computer. Return to step 1.
The internet is very much like an organism that covers the planet, where infections can travel at the speed of light, and antidotes travel at the speed of human typing. Industrial control systems try to isolate themselves from the world as much as possible to try to avoid this, but it does not always work. (Stuxnet is a good example)
Step 5a. Some office drone attaches an infected flash device (mp3 player, camera, phone, thumb-drive, etc.) to the clean machine to download some files (tunes, documents, pr0n, pictures of cats) Suxnet 2.148.b swarms aboard like plauge-ridden rats, mutates and propagates to attached network.
Step 6. Go to step 1.
Step 6a. Tech support goes postal on office staff resulting in 5 deaths and an 8 hour standoff.
And you know said backups are clean… how?
It isn’t just the operating system, the application files are probably infected as well, and the infection probably goes back years. So if they go back to a clean point, they will have lost possibly hundreds of man-hours of investment in software. They may not even have a clean point, or know at what point they were clean.
And like others have said, the thing could find it’s way back into the system anyway if just one person makes one careless error.
hundreds of thousands, not hundreds
Your step 4 assumes that the worm did not also corrupt the software backups. If it was in place long enough without being discovered, it could have, especially if it penetrated the company maintaining the backups and making software changes to keep the software up to date.
Since this report also states that Iran is rewriting the software from scratch for the reactor, it is probable that it WAS corrupted, and thus your simplistic solution would not work.
If these reports were solely from Iranian sources, I agree they would be suspect. But if they are confirmed by Israeli sources, then they are probably true. If Israel had penetrated Irans installations enough to introduce this worm in the first place, then they probably have enough reliable sources in place to determine how bad the effects are.
Thank God that Israel had the guts and the brains to stall the Iranian nuke program. And they even did it without having to do any air strikes. They definitely did more to stop them than we ever did.
Our intell services should definitely take some lessons from Israel. Survalience satellites and communications intercepts are good, but in the end there is no substitute for good human intel, and a few really smart people, that are willing to do what is necessary, and can keep their mouth shut.
I’m quite sure that Islamic science will save the day for Iran.
Thanks for the laugh of the day!
Allah will of course have PRE ORDAINED this as he does with EVERYTHING according to the ‘book wot Mohammad wrote” the Koran. So it seems that even Allah does not want Iran to have the Bomb.
It can’t be all that important a problem or else Mohammed would have written down what to do.
I’m really trying to see a downside to this….
…
…..
Nope, can’t.
If we/Israel/light-side countries can do it to Iran, they/China/dark-side countries can do it to us. Talent is for sale on a global market place. Think stock market Flash Crash….
Can’t the 12th imam just cast out the demon virus with a little 7th C. magic?
Switzerland is helping Iran? Nice to see they are maintaining their proud tradition of playing both sides to make money off any conflict.
Having read the article on Debka file about this: http://www.middleeastwarpeace.info/2011/01/31/russia-warns-iran-stuxnet-could-cause-nuclear-explosion/
I too, am hesitant to trust this report.
Always being one who exerts more than a healthy does of skepticism, it is more than likely that what is actually is.
Consider:IF the Iranian Hitlerite regime had conquered the virus(es),rest assured the plant would be chugging along. Most importantly-and you will have to take my word on this-the cyber warriors at Unit 8200(as well as their supporting actors)do make ‘magic’.As ONE example-has anyone wondered why/how it was SO easy for Israeli jets to go in and out of the Butcher of Syria’s airspace, to destroy their reactor in 2007, and they had NO idea what hit them?
Again, electronic/cyber warfare is Israel’s specialty.Thank heavens it is, but alot more needs to be done to upend their monstrous regime. But it’s a start, a damn good one.
I actually thought it was cyber warfare at the time. A lot of people thought I was nuts.
M.Simon- it was, and you’re not…..
Sure, it has got to be real hard making a virous for Irans piroted copy of windows98.
President Obama needs to realize that the Iranian leaders’ animosity toward the U.S. and the West has nothing to do with who the President of United States is or what our previous actions have been.
You’d think Obama would have realized that by now, given Ahmadinejhad’s mocking tone when speaking of him.
Unfortunately, Obama isn’t driven by facts on the ground but by wishful thinking between his ears. He can’t seem to let go of the arrogant notion that his own charm offensive might get Iran’s current leadership to change course.
This interview is full of accurate observations on the stupidity of the current American administration’s Iran policy.
Q&A With Reza Kahlili, Iranian Double Agent
Could it be that Iran’s and Obama’s plans are one and the same, the destruction of Israel and the United States.
Yes, it could be, particularly on the Israel point.
The more I read about Obama’s past associations and friendships, Rashid Khalidi, Rev. Wright/Louis Farrakhan, Billy Ayers et al., the more I become convinced that Obama has adopted the position of the radical Left and doesn’t support the state of Israel.
And that he’s forced to utter platitudes relative to American support in somewhat the same manner that he’s forced to utter platitudes relative to his belief in and support for the American Constitution.
“[Iran's] two computer task forces [GOWHAR and MAAHER] are said to have spent the last year and a half investigating the extent of the damage, however due to the complexity of the virus they have not been successful with a fix.”
Might this have something to do with the fact that computer viruses don’t have daughters to rape and fathers to behead? It must be hard for them to deal with something that can’t fear them. I can’t help but imagine a bunch of these computer experts frothing with rage and dancing around a burning Siemens corporate flag.
Iranian Tech Support: “Is your computer turned on?”.
no the donky has stoped.
What is up with the Swiss? Wasn’t their collusion with the National Socialists in Germany enough for them? Maybe the Swiss didn’t get their fill of helping Fascists kill Jews during WWII so they are going to help the Iranian Fascists do the same. Maybe it’s time for a little bit of Stuxnet being applied to Switzerland, eh?
Some of the comments make more sense than the article. Some may have been written by teenagers. For reasons I do not comprehend this often occurs in public discourse about computers and nuclear power plants.
In order to really hurt a power plant (nuke or fossil) by remote computer programming, you need really smart people out in the world, really dumb people in the power plant, or saboteurs. The locals could simply pour sand into the bearing, or increase the pressure to until something exploded, but if the plant operators do not normally drool, such actions would raise suspicions, which could be readily confirmed by a glance at an indicator (dial). The US has the smartest hackers in the world, working in our defense and intelligence agencies. But we must face the facts of life. No American entity could execute malware unless our anti war President authorized it. Because it would be an act of war, just like Pearl Harbor. Cyberwar is war; it is not a game. Lots of real people die in war.
The comment about generating an EMP over America means that a Hydrogen bomb was detonated over our nation. The people who attacked us would shortly be molten glass, an extinct nation.
And finally, again for reasons I do not comprehend, any nuke, whose concrete is over six months old, is the subject of “learned” people’s discussion who insist that we/they must move 800 feet, and start over. I say we must stay in reality: If Iran uses nuclear fission to harm us or our allies, they will die, if they exploit this energy for peaceful purposes, we should honor their efforts.
It doesn’t take a nuclear explosion to produce an electromagnetic pulse.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electromagnetic_pulse#Non-nuclear_electromagnetic_pulse
You can produce an EMP withour a nuke but its effects are higly localized and of very limited value It would be easier just to blow whatever it is up.
A non-nuke EMP is like a non-nuke explosion. Very limited.
My understanding is that EMP bursts can be accomplished using small non-nuclear missiles.
Also, you can destroy a nuclear plant if you simply release a lot of cats and squirrels into it.
Iran has NO intention of using its nuclear power for peaceful purposes. Iran has repeatedly stated they intend to “destroy America” and “wipe Israel off the map”. The nations have a moral responsibility to stop the mad Mullahs’ evil goal.
“If Iran uses nuclear fission to harm us or our allies, they will die, if they exploit this energy for peaceful purposes, we should honor their efforts.”
This statement is so naive that I can only assume you are a member of Obama’s administration.
What about the most likely use of nuclear weapons? This is what is going to happen (because no one is going to stop Iran): Iran announces it has the bomb and will use it if anyone attacks Iran in any manner. Maybe they even do a nuclear test to prove they have it. Next they ramp up support for all the nasty groups that like to kill Jews and Americans. Deaths caused by such groups escalate to a level that the American public demands action. We start to assemble the necessary forces on the Iranian borders and Iran publicly declares they have smuggled one or more bombs into Washington DC and other US cities. What do you think we will do then? Is this a “use of nuclear fission to harm us”? Are you advocating that we wait to see if they use this power for something other than peaceful purposes?
Q: Oh, but wait! Didn’t Hillary and O impose sanctions against companies that deal with Iran that will “seriously bite??”
A: Yes, BITE is the word. One notes, for example, that something like 450 international companies (!!)just attended Iran’s Oil Expo or somesuch named love fest….. Bite my %#$.
“Also, you can destroy a nuclear plant if you simply release a lot of cats and squirrels into it.”
I was thinking we could use some of those giant man-eating badgers the Brits apparently used in Basra
.
Iran makes postage stamps honoring men like Sayd Qutb who think a non-muslim country should be overcome just for being a non-muslim country and it goes double if you’re Jewish.
Next on the list is countries that actually attack you.
We make stamps of Elvis.
What?
Elvis. Met him a couple years ago in Biloxi at the Hard Rock
So why are we so worried.
We got Elvis.
Trump that.
Spindok
I’m puzzled by your comment, “our anti war President”. This president got us involved in the war in Libya on the side of Al-Qaeda linked rebels and war in the Ivory Coast.
Although we have a black (half black) president, he is the most dangerous and terrifying president for black people the world has ever known. Unless you are Muslim.
Racism, contempt and violent hate for blacks has to stop. The U.S. administration, France and the UN have blood on their hands. With VERY STRONG U.S. backing, French military and UN troops went to war against black Christian innocents in order to conquer the Ivory Coast for Islam. Another huge victory for global jihad.
frontpagemag.com
A Plea for the Cote D’Ivoire:
Faith J. H. McDonnell on Apr 15th, 2011
Senator Jim Inhofe warned the UN and the State Department “that they would have blood on their hands.”
Ouattara’s troops were using machetes. “They were slitting people’s throats, anyone — men, women, children…
Ouattara’s men circle Simone Gbagbo. Inhofe said that the thugs had pulled out her hair by the roots and then went to the streets, displaying her hair to mobs of cheering Ouattara supporters. Again Inhofe repeated his warning to other Sub-Saharan African leaders, saying, “This could happen to you. This could happen to your wife.”
http://frontpagemag.com/2011/04/15/a-cri-de-coeur-for-the-cote-d%E2%80%99ivoire/
UN Peacekeepers? Give them their proper name: UN Soldiers for Global Islamic Conquest.
Ruthless and cruel French military handed over Christian President Gbagbo, his wife and son to their enemies in order for this family to be horribly abused. What terrible things are Quattara and his followers perpetrating against them in private? The Koran commands to show no mercy to non-Muslims. The UN, French military and their U.S. backers are fully responsible. They are allowing it.
There are pictures of terrified captured black Christians on the internet. They are deeply aware of Muslim barbarism. 1,000 Christians were hacked to death or burnt alive in recent days. There is no one to rescue them and Gbagbo’s family. No one to help.
A photo on the internet shows an Ivory Coast black Christian man and woman holding identical signs – a desperate plea to the world for help. This is how America and France are now seen by victims of Islam.
UN-USA-FRANCE=ASSASSINS
We ought to be massively protesting in the world’s city streets. Which African nation is targeted next by the US/EU/UN for barbaric Islamic conquest?
NON-MUSLIM BLACKS MUST HAVE HUMAN RIGHTS
What about the Christians massacred in Nigeria by the Muslims. There are hundreds if not thousands of victims.
Yes. The suffering of Christians at the hands of Muslims in Nigeria is horrifying. Around the world, the mass slaughter of intensely hated non-Muslims never stops.
Worldnetdaily.com April 19, 2011
Election leaves Christians under fire in another nation
Even with strong Muslim backing, Odinga was beaten in the December 2007 elections. He then accused the incumbent president of rigging the vote and allegedly incited his supporters to riot. Over the next month, some 1,500 Kenyans were killed and more than 500,000 displaced – with most of the violence led by Muslims, who set churches ablaze and hacked Christians to death with machetes.
http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=289109
@R. L. Hails Sr. P. E.
Previous articles on Stuxnet, confirmed by Symantec (Norton Security Suite) report that this virus was very well-crafted so that it gave false readings to sensors so that those diligent nuke technicians would never see problems until too late.
Specifically, the virus attacked the *centrifuges* used to enrich the uranium, causing them to damage themselves by rotating at precise frequencies that are harmonics of the machines’ own natural frequencies (think Tacoma Narrows Bridge).
Further, this virus was tailored to Siemens controls, used primarily by Iran. This is analgous to a virus created for a very specific family. So, I can easily see President Obama allowing (assuming US-led, or US-Israeil partnership) the release of this malware. He is ardently anti-nuclear weapons, and a nuclear armed Iran would seriously undercut his stated intentions to reduce US stockpiles of nuclear weapons. And if stuxnet was developed and released as a long-term sleeper virus, then it could have been W’s beast to unleash prior to Obama’s term.
Hey, PJM writers, educators – always excellent articles. I consider this blog the educational learning center. Also, reading the great comments, as well, adds to this learning center. Who needs O’Reilly and Beckel’s fair and balanced BS. PJM has it all – continue the excellent writings and comments.
Than you, sir. We will try.
I bet china is helping iran and learning everything it can about stuxnet to use in it’s own cyber weapons.
This has already caused serious damage to ahmadinejad’s mind. H simply cannot allow this to happen or live with it either.
PREDICTION: WITHIN 5 MONTHS HE WILL BECOME SERIOUSLY ILL AND CROAK.
There is a great deal of noise about this subject that has no bearing on reality.
1) STUXNET did not target Bushehr. Anyone who has examined the S7 MCL code in the STUXNET wrapper will tell you that. The software was looking for a specific piece of code in a specific S7 controller model, with at least 31 instances of some very high speed motor drives. THERE ARE NO SUCH THINGS TO BE FOUND IN ANY NUCLEAR POWER FACILITY. However, there are plenty of things like this in a nuclear material enrichment facility.
2) Stuxnet is dead. It did its work long ago and was basically a discarded bit of discontent for the people working in Natanz. Stuxnet had been rattling around for nearly a year before some of the first reports of its existence came out on several open security forums.
3) This does not discount the possibility that someone may have done significant damage to other infrastructure using other viruses and/or worms. However, Bushehr has had numerous problems with the physical construction aspects since day one. We do not need to refer to a computer virus to explain all the shortcomings that Iran is experiencing right now. There may be a virus involved, but that is hardly the only obstacle that Iran faces.
Who was it that said, “Never ascribe to evil intent that which can be explained by incompetence.”?
No sale. Bushehr isn’t the kind of facility that would use Siemens PLCs in critical applications. Natanz, yes. Bushehr, no.
I also don’t see any reason to believe that STARS is anything real.
If Stars isnt real that is even better.
Spinoff benefit of Stuxnet is paranoia, delay, cost, confusion and mistrust.
The whole program against the Iranian regime is like a series of small earthquakes, eventually the building will collapse.
I welcome any attempt to cripple Iran’s destructive ambitions. I do so on the condition that the US should not stop there while ultimately leaving the theocratic regime intact. Iran has been a declared enemy of the US since ’79 and has repeatedly attacked American civilians and military through their support of terrorism. The US should bomb them out of existence and let the survivors pick up the pieces brought by their own ideology. They would have no one to blame but themselves were the US to destroy their country. Islamic totalitarianism needs to be eradicated and Iran is its fountainhead and spiritual inspiration. Read “Winning the Unwinnable War”, Elan Journo.
http://winningtheunwinnablewar.com/
Russia and China must be carefully studying this weapon—for that it is.
Switzerland is helping Iran.
Neutrality is such a cop out.
Two points:
the mad mullahs say that chaos is needed for the Coming of the Twelfth.
They should welcome a computer virus, chaos, and mayhem.
It seems to me they are unbelievers and infidels.
Is any special unit busy sending a thank you note to Switzerland for its help to Iran ?
I am sure that the Swiss computer networks are vital for the Swiss banks.
The uranium enrichment plant’s centrifuges would have been the higher priority target and STUXNET was a great tool for throwing them off-balance and damaging them to the point where they require replacement.
Iran’s nuclear POWER plant would also be suscepticable but not in the same way or to the same degree. It could pose the threat of making large quantities and qualities of radiological weapons for a dirty bomb.
PLCs are widely used in modern nukes and it is easy to see where STUXNET could have damaged the reactor coolant pumps and the main turbine generator. The mechanisms that come to mind is having the PLC control the adjustable speed drives for the pumps and the turbine throttle valves to operate at the critical speed of the rotating devices. Too long and one can wipe the bearings or cause shaft bending and disk rubbing.
Fixing the reactor coolant pumps is a major maintenance project but replacing the main turbine is a huge piece of work with long lead times.
If they get the rotating machines fixed, a redesign to replace PLCs with relay logic, reverting to designs from the 1960s is do-able.
Another possible line of attack is driving the control rods in such patterns as to overheat the fuel which would require its replacement, another long lead time.
This is speculation on my part, based on my decades in the US nuclear industry and I have no experience with current Russian designs. But yes, serious damage to the power plant by STUXNET is plausible.
The proper punishment for the Swiss would never be discovered by them.
“Tech Support. Have you tried turning it off and turning it on again?”
Tech support: Also, did you make sure it is pluged in?
When Iran dials Tech support it is really Israel they are talking to, and those Jews are trying their best to not LOLROTF!
Cyber war. We have a digital society fighting an analog society.
If this could be done to Iran, why not north korea?
Possible? Yes. By the variants of STUXNET known to us today? No.
I have seen evidence that Siemens S7 PLC gear is being used in Bushehr. Unfortunately, the links I had have since evaporated down the memory hole. However, it does not have the specific stuff in it that STUXNET was looking for.
Keep in mind, STUXNET was simply a payload carrier. The most insidious part of it were not flaws it exploited against Microsoft, but the things it did the Siemens WinCC HMI and the Step7 development environments. The STUXNET vector used flaws that have been patched nearly six months ago by Microsoft. The only operating systems they did not patch include Windows 2000, 98, ME, 95, and NT. Those operating systems are no longer supported, so it is possible that this thing could propagate on older systems so often found on a plant DCS.
By the way, Iran is not the only country with inept security for their plant control systems. Very nearly every other country in the world falls in to that pile too. They could retaliate. And if they’re successful, things could get very ugly very fast.
Things are already very ugly.
No changing that now.
A confidential source has told me that the 12th Imam™ will soon perform well water Wudoo to purify the infected Bushehr Complex using a 190,000 pound Putzmeister pump available when its current Japanese assignment is complete.
I agree that Natanz is much more interesting than Bushehr in regard to Stuxnet, etc.
The poster above who declared Israel equally barbaric to Islam can kiss my rear end. This coming from a nation, with respect, whose armed forces have killed millions of soldiers and civilians of enemy states over time.
Israel is, in terms of liberal values (which are certainly open to question), easily the most civilized society in the world, while under daily threat.