Sunday, January 16, 2011

Israel Today – Virus Attacking Iran Nuke Program Is Israeli



Watch Israel Today – Virus Attacking Iran Nuke Program Is Israeli

The New York Times reported rather conclusively on Saturday that the super-advanced computer virus that has at least partially crippled Iran’s nuclear program was developed and tested by Israel, with American involvement.

Known as Stuxnet, the virus was first identified “in the wild” about two years ago. About one year ago, it infected the computers that control the uranium enrichment plant at Natanz in central Iran. By all accounts, Stuxnet has to date managed to knock out 984 centrifuges and has, according to Israeli officials, set back Iran’s nuclear program by a good three-to-four years.According to the report, the idea for the virus was birthed after Israel requested bombs and a green light from the US to launch a military assault on Iran’s nuclear facilities.

The Dimona complex in the Negev desert is famous as the heavily guardedheart of Israel’s never-acknowledged nuclear arms program, where neat rows of factories make atomic fuel for the arsenal.The construction of the worm was so advanced, it was “like the arrival of an F-35 into a World War I battlefield,” says Ralph Langner, the computer expert who was the first to sound the alarm about Stuxnet. Others have called it the first “weaponized” computer virus.

Simply put, Stuxnet is an incredibly advanced, undetectable computer worm that took years to construct and was designed to jump from computer to computer until it found the specific, protected control system that it aimed to destroy: Iran’s nuclear enrichment program.And that meant Stuxnet had to act as sort of a computer cruise missile.

The expert added that Israel worked in collaboration with the United States in targeting Iran, but that Washington was eager for “plausible deniability.
One thing can't be denied, the Stuxnet worm has been a major obstacle to Iran's desire to obtain nuclear weapons, saving Israel from having to attack Iran at least for a while. Who ever developed the virus lets hope they are working on a follow-up because 2015 is not that far away.

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