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A-O Special Coverage

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Iranian leadership has revealed that Iran's industrial computers are under attack from a computer worm virus called Stuxnet. The worm has infected as many as 30,000 industrial computers inside Iran's industrial community causing havoc.

The Stuxnet virus is reportedly a self-replicating malware computer program able to infect its target by attaching itself to programs or documents and take control of industrial operating systems. It is also able to send information back to Western sources.

There are various intelligence reports indicating that the virus has infected Iran's nuclear facility computers including the systems at Iran's Natanz underground facility and even the new Bushehr nuclear power plant. Iran denies the allegations about the Bushehr plant being infected. See LINK HERE for that story aspect.

The New York Times reports that the Iranians suspect that Israeli cyber warriors may be responsible for the virus even though it first showed up earlier this year in other Asian nations and now even European and American computers. However a disproportionaly large number of Iranian computers have been infected, perhaps as many as 30,000 computers in Iran including laptops of nuclear technicians.

The virus is aimed solely at industrial equipment made by the Siemens Corporation, a German company which makes equipment that controls oil pipelines, electric utilities, nuclear installations and other large industrial operations. The virus is able to attack computers that are disconnected from the internet, by hiding inside infected USB drives that are then plugged into non-internet computers. Once plugged into a computer via a USB drive, the entire network can then be compromised.

Iranian officials believe that the Stuxnet worm is part of an ongoing cyber war against Iran although the Stuxnet program is so sophisticated that it is almost impossible to track down the source of origination. They believe is it part of an attempt to sabotage the nuclear facility at Natanz including the power supplies that run the centrifuges which enrich uranium. The NY Times reports that under the Bush Administration, President Bush had authorized new technology efforts to be used that could impede Iran's nuclear program. The NY Times cites current and former American officials as indicating that Bush did order such activities. The Times also notes that President Obama ordered an acceleration of the Bush efforts.

It is reported that Iran's nuclear facilities at Natanz had run into problems with production in August and that a slowdown had developed in the production of enriched uranium. Experts have attributed to problems to poor design and the effects of sanctions against Iran and or perhaps sabotage. James Lewis, a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington and one of the country?s leading experts on cyberwar intelligence told the NY Times that: ?It is easy to look at what we know about Stuxnet and jump to the conclusion that it is of American origin and Iran is the target, but there is no proof of that. We may not know the real answer for some time.? Lewis went on to add that the U.S. one of four or five places that could have done it ? the Israelis, the British and the Americans are the prime suspects, then the French and Germans, and you can?t rule out the Russians and the Chinese.?

There is much more to this story in the NY Times coverage. To read their report, LINK HERE.  We'll have additional intelligence report information in our next issue of the A-O Intelligence Digest, to be published in our A-O Insider Report section.

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Late-Breaking News

As we go to posting, a late-breaking news story emerges confirming the threat of the Stuxnet worm virus having infected computers at Iran's new nuclear power plant at Bushehr. Iran had previously denied reports that the worm virus was present at the nuclear power plant. For more details, LINK HERE.

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