The German software engineer who in September was the first to report = that a=20 computer worm was apparently designed to sabotage targets in Iran=20 said Friday that the program contained two separate =E2=80=9Cdigital = warheads.=E2=80=9D =20
- Home=20 Page
- Today's=20 Paper
- Video
- Times=20 Topics
=
Advertise on=20
NYTimes.com
Worm Can Deal=20
Double Blow to Nuclear Program
By JOHN=20 MARKOFF
Published: November 19, 2010
- Sign=20 In to E-Mail
- Print=
-
![](3D"http://graphics8.nytimes.com/adx/images/ADS/24/78/ad.247828/127hrs=)
Related
-
Worm Was Perfect for Sabotaging Centrifuges(November 19, = 2010)
The malicious program, known as Stuxnet,=20 is designed to disable both Iranian centrifuges used to enrich uranium = and steam=20 turbines at the Bushehr nuclear power plant, which is scheduled to begin = operation next year, said the engineer, Ralph Langner, an industrial = control=20 systems specialist based in Hamburg, Germany.
His analysis adds further detail to a report by researchers at the Symantec=20 Corporation, an American computer security company, which concluded = that the=20 software code was=20 intended to induce fluctuations in the rotational speed of motors, = by taking=20 over a power device known as a frequency converter.
=E2=80=9CIt=E2=80=99s an awful complex code that we are looking = at,=E2=80=9D said Mr. Langner, who=20 has spent several months studying the program, which was discovered by a = Russian=20 antivirus company in June, after the company received complaints from = Iranian=20 customers. The link between the worm and an Iranian target was first = made at an=20 industrial systems cybersecurity conference in the Washington area on = Sept. 20=20 by Mr. Langner.
In a=20 statement Friday on his Web site, he described two different attack = modules=20 that are designed to run on different industrial controllers made by = Siemens,=20 the German industrial equipment maker. =E2=80=9CIt appears that warhead = one and warhead=20 two were deployed in combination as an all-out cyberstrike against the = Iranian=20 nuclear program,=E2=80=9D he wrote.
In testimony before the Senate on Wednesday, federal and private = industry=20 officials said that the Iranian nuclear program was a probable target, = but they=20 stopped short of saying they had confirming evidence. Mr. Langner said, = however,=20 that he had found enough evidence within the programs to pinpoint the = intended=20 targets. He described his research process as being akin to being at a = crime=20 scene and examining a weapon but lacking a body.
The second code module =E2=80=94 aimed at the nuclear power plant = =E2=80=94 was written with=20 remarkable sophistication, he said. The worm moves from personal = computers to=20 Siemens computers that control industrial processes. It then inserts = fake data,=20 fooling the computers into thinking that the system is running normally = while=20 the sabotage of the frequency converters is taking place. =E2=80=9CIt is = obvious that=20 several years of preparation went into the design of this = attack,=E2=80=9D he wrote. =20
When asked about Mr. Langner=E2=80=99s new analysis, Eric Chien of = Symantec said the=20 company=E2=80=99s researchers had also seen evidence of a second attack = module, but that=20 the module was disabled in the version of Stuxnet they studied. =
Mr. Langner is among a small group of industrial control specialists = who=20 warned that the widespread distribution of the Stuxnet code could lead = to=20 disaster. Equipment made by Siemens and its competitors is used around = the globe=20 to manage virtually all of the world=E2=80=99s transportation, power = distribution and=20 communications systems.
Joe Weiss, managing partner at Applied Control Systems, a consulting = firm=20 based in the Silicon Valley that organized the conference in September, = said he=20 was concerned that computer security organizations were not adequately = conveying=20 the potential for serious industrial sabotage that Stuxnet foretells. = =20
=E2=80=9CI just want the lights to stay on and water flowing, and = people not dying,=E2=80=9D=20 he said.
Get Free E-mail Alerts on These = Topics
=
MOST POPULAR
- Web=20 Site for Teenagers With Literary Leanings
- Doctor=20 Faces Suits Over Cardiac Stents
- The=20 Stone: Navigating Past Nihilism
- A=20 Book Lover=E2=80=99s San Francisco
- Bus= h=20 Tax-Cut Deal Between Obama and Republicans Is Near
- All=20 the President's Captors
- Let'= s=20 Not Make a Deal
- WikiLeaks=20 Archive - China's Battle With Google
- M= ounting=20 Debts by States Stoke Fears of Crisis
- What=20 Else Would $60 Billion Buy?
- Don't= =20 Look, Don't Read: Government Warns Its Workers Away From WikiLeaks=20 Documents
- Proposition= =20 8 Reaches Next Legal Hurdle
- WikiLeaks=20 Archive - Arab States and Terror Funds
- Sen= ate=20 Rejects Obama's Tax Plan, Setting Stage for Deal
- wikileaks
- december=20 3, 2010
- november=20 24, 2010
- china=20 education
- north=20 and south korea
- illegal=20 immigrants
- social=20 q's
- public=20 schools
- dec=20 1 2010
- women's=20 suffrage
- Bush=20 Tax-Cut Deal With Jobless Aid Said to Be Near
- Hundreds=20 of WikiLeaks Mirror Sites Appear
- Doctor=20 Faces Suits Over Cardiac Stents
Advertisements
![](3D"http://graphics8.nytimes.com/adx/images/ADS/23/70/ad.237035/weeken=)
![](3D"http://graphics8.nytimes.com/adx/images/ADS/25/23/ad.252372/SelfSe=)
![](3D"http://i1.nyt.com/images/global/buttons/moth_reverse.gif")
&=
nbsp;![](3D"http://i1.nyt.com/images/global/buttons/moth_forward.gif")
<=
/DIV>
Inside NYTimes.com
Opinion=20 =C2=BBThe=20 Stone: Navigating Past NihilismThirty years before Nietzsche pronounced God = dead, a=20 great American novelist was charting a course out of the=20 abyss. |
Opinion=20 =C2=BBHow=20 to Save MedicaidA Room for Debate forum on what works and = what doesn=E2=80=99t=20 as states desperately try to control costs. |