On September 26th, 2011, Tom Gjelten reported for NPR on how a German cybersecurity expert Ralph Langner has pegged the US as behind Stuxnet.  Langer was the first to announce the discovery of Stuxnet, calling it the most sophisticated worm he had ever seen.  Langer described Stuxnet "as a worm that could burrow its way into an industrial control system, the kind of system used in power plants, refineries and nuclear stations. Amazingly, it ignored everything it found except the one piece of equipment it was seeking; when the worm reached its target, it would destroy it."  Of course, that one piece of equipment ended up being a particular nuclear facility in Iran.   

Langner said that as he dug deeper into the Stuxnet code, the level of expertise seemed almost alien.  Langer concluded that the sophistication of the worm, plus the fact that the designer had inside intelligence on the Iranian facility, must have meant that the US had developed Stuxnet, possibly with the help of Israeli intelligence.  In naming the US as the developer of Stuxnet, Langer made the bigger point that the US has in effect introduced it into the world's cyber-arsenal.  "Cyberweapons proliferate by use, as we see in the case of Stuxnet," he said. "Several months or weeks or a year later, the code is available on the Internet for dissection by anyone who has the motivation or money to do so."

The source article can be found here.

On September 26th, 2011, Tom Gjelten reported for NPR on how a German cybersecurity expert Ralph Langner has pegged the US as behind Stuxnet.  Langer was the first to announce the discovery of Stuxnet, calling it the most sophisticated worm he had ever seen.  Langer described Stuxnet "as a worm that could burrow its way into an industrial control system, the kind of system used in power plants, refineries and nuclear stations. Amazingly, it ignored everything it found except the one piece of equipment it was seeking; when the worm reached its target, it would destroy it."  Of course, that one piece of equipment ended up being a particular nuclear facility in Iran.   

Langner said that as he dug deeper into the Stuxnet code, the level of expertise seemed almost alien.  Langer concluded that the sophistication of the worm, plus the fact that the designer had inside intelligence on the Iranian facility, must have meant that the US had developed Stuxnet, possibly with the help of Israeli intelligence.  In naming the US as the developer of Stuxnet, Langer made the bigger point that the US has in effect introduced it into the world's cyber-arsenal.  "Cyberweapons proliferate by use, as we see in the case of Stuxnet," he said. "Several months or weeks or a year later, the code is available on the Internet for dissection by anyone who has the motivation or money to do so."

The source article can be found here.