2023-08-28 06:35:36
A few meaningless words like ‘abracadabra’ or ‘sectum sepre’ in Harry Potter can do wonders in a wizarding world, just like typing ‘nonsense?’ (In the case of ordinary people) and codes. We live in a magical world where codes can start and stop a war and ground anything. Stuxnet can be said to have started this.
What is Stuxnet?
Stuxnet is a powerful computer worm designed by US and Israeli intelligence to disable a key part of the Iranian nuclear program. Stuxnet is considered by many to be one of the most sophisticated and well-designed computer worms ever seen. Stuxnet was intended by the US and Israeli governments as a weapon that might disrupt, or at least delay, the Iranian program to develop nuclear weapons.
Operation Olympic Games
The classified program to develop the virus was codenamed “Operation Olympic Games”. This was the idea of General James E. Cartwright, who was the head of the US Strategic Command dealing with nuclear deterrence, according to the Washington Post’s report. It took regarding 3 years to complete under the leadership of ten coding experts. Then-President George W. It started under Bush and continued under President Obama.
It is transferred to the network through USB sticks. Although no government has officially acknowledged the development of Stuxnet, a video created in 2011 to celebrate the retirement of Israeli Defense Forces chief Gabi Ashkenazi listed Stuxnet as one of the successes under his watch.
Here’s how it works
Uranium enrichment is the most critical step in the nuclear program. The worm targeted the enrichment plant at Iran’s Natanz nuclear facility. Centrifuges are machines that spin at incredible speeds to enrich uranium. This process is technically very challenging. Viruses that infected Iran’s centrifuge control systems (PLCs) sent constant spin and stop messages and damaged the centrifuges. About 1,000 of the 5,000 centrifuges were suddenly destroyed. Anyway, this virus attack managed to set back Iran’s nuclear plans by almost 2 years.
Mission Impossible style operation
Stuxnet was designed to self-destruct following causing enough damage to the adversary, like in Mission Impossible or a Bond movie, so it was very difficult to detect. An enduring mystery regarding Stuxnet, the world’s first known cyber weapon: How did this “digital missile” infiltrate Iran’s secret Natanz nuclear fuel enrichment facility?
Movies and novels
The documentary film Zero Days by Phillips Alex Gibney highlights this malware and the cyber war surrounding it. It features the use of Mark Rusinovich’s novel Trojan Horse and the Stuxnet virus and Iran’s attempt to overcome it. In Michael Mann’s 2015 film Blackhat, the code shown to be the virus used by a hacker to blow up the coolant pumps at the Chai Wan nuclear power plant in Hong Kong is a modified version of the original Stuxnet code.
Currently
The July 2015 agreement, called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), signed by Iran, the United States, Britain, France, Russia, China, Germany and the European Union, prevented Iran’s nuclear program from developing into bomb-making. It was feared that following building the bomb, Iran would be a threat to the neighboring countries and even the United States.
To prevent that, limits were set on Iran’s uranium enrichment and stockpiles of enriched uranium. Iran also allowed International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspections of its nuclear power plants to become more stringent.
English Summary: Stuxnet is a sophisticated computer worm that was first discovered in June 2010. It is believed to have been created by a joint operation between the United States and Israel, and was designed to attack Iran’s nuclear program.
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