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Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia
Did Russia plant Stuxnet?
2011-12-10
I still say it was the Ruritanians...
The Stuxnet computer worm is widely considered to be a U.S.-Israeli cyber weapon crafted to wreak havoc in Iran's nuclear enrichment plants. But with the identity of the perpetrators still unclear, it might be time to start seeking some alternative explanations. After all, suppose Stuxnet also caught the United States' defense and intelligence communities with their pants down? If this is the case, then a very different story could emerge, one involving faceless groups of Russians and their highly sophisticated cyber warriors.

In brief, the case for the United States having designed and developed Stuxnet is as follows: First, neither the United States nor Israel wants Iran to develop nuclear weapons. The worm, then, is seen as likely part of a covert strategy to delay or destroy Iran's nuclear infrastructure while stopping short of war.

The weapon was designed to target a specific version of the Siemens SCADA programmable logic controls (PLC) operating a specific configuration and number of cascading centrifuges found in Iran. Some analysts point to the fact that there were vulnerability assessments being run at Idaho National Labs on Siemens PLC software. Others note that the design of the cyber weapon closely fit Richard Clark's description in Cyber War of a well-designed and ethically thought out weapon limiting collateral damage due to a vast army of lawyers scrutinizing the effects. The malware-analyst community, meanwhile, points to digital code strings such as "b:myrtus" taken from biblical events important to Israeli identity. And, as the story goes, after the political decisions, vulnerability assessments, and weapon design took place, either an Iranian agent was found to take the USB memory stick into the nuclear facility, or all the computers around the plants were infected with Stuxnet via the conficker worm.

Remainder at the link, truncated per source request
Posted by:Steve White

#3  HMMMMM, HMMMM, RUSSIA, aka Iran's BFF???

Agree wid #1.

Our mighty "YEAR OF THE LEFT FIELD" JUST KEEPS MOVING ALONG.
Posted by: JosephMendiola   2011-12-10 22:51  

#2  Anonymoose, I agree with your thoughts. How would we react should Mexico go nuclear. That is without O of course.
Posted by: Dale   2011-12-10 18:39  

#1  Russian diplomacy can be very enigmatic at times. Though they might pursue similar goals to the US, they make it a point never to pursue those goals in the same way. This is a strategy calculated to give them more influence in the outcome.

A good example is Iran's pursuit of nuclear everything. The US was direct in saying 'hell no', and trying to prevent any nuclear materials and equipment from going to Iran. But this left the question of Iran's intentions wide open. We really didn't know what they were planning to do.

But the Russians approach was to offer Iran enriched uranium for its nuclear power plants, but only on condition that the expended uranium was returned to Russia in exchange for fresh.

Were Iran to just want nuclear energy, this would have been fine with them. But they had to show their hand that they wanted to make nuclear weapons, by refusing Russia's deal. Weapons grade uranium is processed from expended fuel, which provides isotopes such as plutonium. To make it directly from reactor grade uranium is much harder.

So do not underestimate the Russians. While they seem to be Iran's good buddy, it is the friendship of a rattlesnake and a kingsnake. Russia will tolerate Iran as long as it is to Russia's interests. If Iran becomes a threat to Russia, Russia will treat it accordingly.
Posted by: Anonymoose   2011-12-10 15:15  

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