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shubhragupta
at March 11,2017
Its amazing how the different parts of the worm get together to work together insync.One of these two must have obtained knowledge from their spy within the nuclear program to get the malware.I think the factors to succeed was stealing the encryption keys, programming the worm to analyze. Very interesting the complexity and effectiveness of Stuxnet.
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student0
at March 19,2017
The most striking takeaway for me was the presenter’s awe at the Stuxnet virus/Trojan Horse/worm. As a security professional talking to an audience who most likely do not have a cybersecurity background, he definitely conveyed as sense of un-precedence and a bit of reverence for the authors of Stuxnet. He seemed to be very familiar with the inner workings of the virus, and I wonder if he and his company obtained a copy for analysis. His comment at the end about his greatest fear of hundreds of millions of devices being infected by malware that destroys hardware may not be so far away in the future, especially with the Internet of Things and default credentials trending to be the norm.
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msharma6
at March 30,2017
This video provided some basic technical knowledge. It was interesting to learn all the Stuxnet capabilities. Its amazing how easily it can spread and gain control of a control. The verification process of Stuxnet is sophisticated. Good video!
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bschmid5
at April 22,2017
This video was originally published on May 8, 2012 by the Center for International Security and Cooperation (CISAC) at Stanford University. Carey Nachenberg, Vice President and Symantec Fellow, Symantec Corporation, discusses the Stuxnet computer worm/Trojan horse/virus at an April 23, 2012 CISAC Science Seminar. He starts his presentation by stating that the typical computer threat is 10KB in size versus the 500KB of Stuxnet due to its complex logic used to attack the Iranian nuclear facility. He goes on to state that due to its size it had to be sponsored by a government agency. Stuxnet uses seven distinct mechanisms for spreading to other compters and Nachenberg’s gives a technically detailed explanation of the various mechanisms. I found this presentation to be far more interesting and detailed than the overview of Stuxnet presented on the PBS series NOVA Rise of the Hackers. A few interesting things to note about Stuxnet: 1) it targeted both Microsoft Windows systems and Siemen Programmable Logic Controllers (PLCs) which run on two different types of processors and operating systems, 2) it exploited several previously unknown zero-day attacks in Microsoft Windows, 3) it was expecting to work in an environment with anti-virus software and was signed with two stolen digital Certificates of Authenticity from RealTek and Jmicron, 4) the authors of Stuxnet had intimate knowledge of the Windows operating system source code, 5) it destroyed around 1000 Iranian centrifuges before being discovered.
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BSharma
at April 28,2017
This video provides good overview of the Stuxnet Virus, malware, Trojan, etc whatever malicious word defines the many forms this 500KB code. Lots of theories have abounded to it origination. To get a broader view of what Stuxnet is, one needs to watch the documentary Zero Days. Alex Gibney's new documentary, Zero Days. This documents the development a cyber weapon jointly developed by the U.S. and Israel. According to the documentary, the CIA and Mossad, Unit 8200 specifically, developed this code.
Due to internal pressure, the unit modified the code to be more aggressive, and "that caused two things to happen. One, it's spread all over the world because in order to spread into Natanz, the idea was that it would just spread rapaciously, and then various IT firms - they would take their, you know, thumb drives or whatever into the Natanz plant it would get in. But it was also spreading out." [http://www.npr.org/2016/07/04/484713086/documentary-explores-the-cyber-war-secrets-of-stuxnet]