Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by cypherpunks01 5666 days ago
I believe <i>somebody</i> just blew up one or two of their "top people". The article seems to indicate the scientist who was killed was in charge of the Stuxnet recovery.

Also, I'd bet fixing the whole plant's industrial control systems isn't as simple as restoring from a backup. I imagine there can be a lot of complexities such as the backup systems being infected, having to write custom tools to detect and prevent future infections, etc.

Also, I'm curious, what are people's thoughts on the worm's authors? Is it generally accepted to be Israeli-made, or are there some doubts about that? I remembered reading something about a reference to Israeli in the code from some anti-virus folks, not sure if that is actually true though. And I don't personally think that the CIA / U.S. military is innovative or clever enough to pull this off, but obviously that's just my opinion. Are there any other candidates?
3 comments
d2viant 5666 days ago
The CIA / U.S. military have been involved with electronic warfare for a long time. I would disagree and say they're at least as innovative and perfectly capable of carrying out something like this. If it was a US operation though, I would probably add the NSA to the mix as well, since they likely would have had involvement at some point in the process. In either scenario though, it would likely involve contractors of some sort, if only for the specialized Siemens knowledge that would be required.
link
redthrowaway 5666 days ago
Likely a joint project, offered in return for one of the Israeli settlement freezes of the last few years. The motorcycle bombings were clearly Mossad, but the technical expertise, specifically the specs needed on the Siemens products, would probably have come from the US.
link
spudlyo 5666 days ago
This whole affair feels like a cyberpunk action thriller. It's a bit spooky that it's real.
link
icegreentea 5666 days ago
I think the US is plenty capable of pulling this type of thing off. They've done something somewhat similar a long while back... well, allegedly anyways.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siberian_pipeline_sabotage

link