As Salon noted last week, a group of legal experts supported by Nato released a manual in an effort to codify how international law applies to state-sponsored hacking. According the handbook — the Tallinn Manual — the Stuxnet cyberattck believed to have been launched by Israel and the U.S. against Iran constitutes an “act of force,” Wired noted Monday.The Stuxnet worm targeted cascades and centrifuges at Iran’s Natanz uranium enrichment plant . The attacks by Stuxnet are thoughts to have set back Tehran’s nuclear program by an estimated three years, but neither U.S. nor Israeli governments have admitted to a role developing the cyberweapon.Via Wired:The 20 experts who produced the study were unanimous that Stuxnet was an act of force, but were less clear about whether the cyber sabotage against Iran’s nuclear program constituted an “armed attack,” which would entitle Iran to use counterforce in self-defense. An armed attack constitutes a start of international hostilities under which the Geneva Convention’s laws of war would apply.Continue Reading… … Read More
Stuxnet origins: US targeted Iran’s nuclear research facility before its erection
Stuxnet origins: US targeted Iran’s nuclear research facility before its erection
Published time: February 27, 2013 03:07
TrendsIran tension, Israel vs IranTagsAccident, Crime, Internet, Iran, Nuclear, Politics, Scandal, SciTech, USAThe first potentially explosive cyber-weapon used to attack Iran’s nuclear research infrastructure was developed before Iran even started enriching uranium at the Natanz facility, researchers at the security company Symantec have discovered.The dormant computer virus that was behind an attack on Iran’s
nuclear program as early as 2005 still threatens computers
worldwide, mainly in Iran and the United States, Symantec’s new
report suggests.The anti-virus giant, on Tuesday, claimed that a team of
specialists has discovered a version of the Stuxnet computer virus
that was used against Tehran in November 2007, two years earlier
than previously assumed.The threat, Stuxnet version 1.001, which the company helped to
uncover in July 2010, “one of the most sophisticated pieces of
malware ever written” is now believed to have had an impact on
the critical national infrastructure of nation states.When the virus originally surfaced, it was alleged that
Washington and Tel Aviv used it to attack an Iranian nuclear plant
at Natanz.But the latest analysis by the Symantec Security Response has
revealed that an earlier version of 1.001, Stuxnet 0.5 was in
operation between 2007 and 2009 with the possibility of even
earlier variants going back to 2005.Yet eight years ago Iran was in the process of building its
uranium enrichment facility, said Symantec researcher Liam
O’Murchu, as the plant became operational in 2007.“It is really mind-blowing that they were thinking about
creating a project like that in 2005,” O’Murchu told Reuters
ahead of the report’s release at the RSA security conference in San
Francisco.All versions of Stuxnet have allegedly been used to change the
speeds of around 1,000 gas-spinning centrifuges without being
detected, thus sabotaging the research process of Iranian
scientists. Such manipulation, say some experts, could potentially
lead to an explosion.Symantic said that the new variant is the oldest version of
Stuxnet found and is spread by “infecting Step 7 projects
including USB keys.”It also has a kill date which stopped it from spreading on July
4, 2009.“The 0.5 version was a mixture of sabotage and espionage –
affecting the valves and reporting back,” Sian John, Symantec’s
director of security strategy for UK and Ireland Enterprise was
quoted by The Guardian as sayin
2000
g. “This really goes to show that
with the right impact and amount of research, these groups can
create very targeted attacks.”The security company also detected a number of dormant
infections worldwide over the past year. Out of a small number
discovered, 47 per cent were found in Iran while 21 per cent were
in the US.Share on Tumblr … Read More
Iran to install new nuclear equipment at Natanz site
Iran intends to install more modern equipment at Natanz, one of its main nuclear sites, according to a document seen by AFP on Thursday. The UN atomic agency document said that Iran informed it in a letter dated January 23 that “centrifuge machines type IR2m will be used in Unit A-22″…
