It's pretty safe to assume at this point that Stuxnet was developed as an Israel/USA military collaboration. Spokespeople from both countries smirk before saying "no comment" when asked about it.
That being said, hackers have huge egos. The types of hackers that present at security conferences even more so. It's tremendously easy for them to pick apart the worm several months after it was discovered and say "oh ho ho, it doesn't encrypt it's command and control communications!!" like they're smarter than t
For those who don't RTFAs, this one has something interesting, not mentioned in the summary. The analyst thought the worm might have started as something else and been re-purposed for sabotage. There might be two separate coder groups, one who made the original program and one who made it into a weapon. The latter group was apparently less skilled, though still would have needed a considerable breadth of knowledge.
Makes me wonder if the perpetrator might not be one of Iran's less advanced neighbours, ins
1) From what I read, and I read a lot on that topic, Stuxnet is pretty damn awesome. The exploits alone are estimated to have been worth a seven to eight figure... 2) Secrecy might not have been a priority. 3) Maybe they wanted to be detected to drive a point home. 4) Mindgame question: What if Russia, China or someone else did it and wanted to frame the USA & Israel?
Ok! Ok! I must have, I must have put a decimal point in the wrong place or something. Shit. I always do that. I always mess up some mundane detail.
For those who don't RTFAs, this one has something interesting, not mentioned in the summary. The analyst thought the worm might have started as something else and been re-purposed for sabotage. There might be two separate coder groups, one who made the original program and one who made it into a weapon. The latter group was apparently less skilled, though still would have needed a considerable breadth of knowledge.
Makes me wonder if the perpetrator might not be one of Iran's less advanced neighbours, ins
1) From what I read, and I read a lot on that topic, Stuxnet is pretty damn awesome. The exploits alone are estimated to have been worth a seven to eight figure...
2) Secrecy might not have been a priority.
3) Maybe they wanted to be detected to drive a point home.
4) Mindgame question: What if Russia, China or someone else did it and wanted to frame the USA & Israel?
This is the article worth pointing to on the subject: http://rdist.root.org/2011/01/17/stuxnet-is-embarrassing-not-amazing/ [root.org], not the bullshit linkbait threatpost.com(MERCIAL) "article".