stuxnet

It's not uncommon for an employee to plug a USB stick into a computer and unwittingly install malware on a work network. Unfortunately, that appears to have happened on the International Space Station. Eugene Kaspersky, the man behind the Kaspersky ... antivirus software, claims Russian astronauts brought USB sticks onto the space station. At least one of the sticks turned out to contain malware that infected computers on the station. Exactly when this happened hasn't been revealed, though it was probably before May last year, when the station switched to using Linux-based computers. Before that ... (view more)

The United States Air Force (USAF) plans to add 1,000 cybercrime experts to its current workforce of 6,000 computer professionals. The reason: there is a concern that Iran may soon pose a serious threat to US Internet security. Although the Air ... Force budget as a whole is likely to be cut, observers expect extra recruits in Space Command, the unit responsible for monitoring and controlling United States Internet security, satellites, and long-range missiles. (Source: ohsonline.com ) Cyber Command: Leading, Preventing Online Attacks Space Command is a unit within the larger Air Force Cyber ... (view more)

A leading security firm says it has discovered a virus that could be more sophisticated and potentially more dangerous than Stuxnet, which wreaked havoc last year. The new virus, called "Flame," appears however to be designed to steal data rather ... than to cause physical damage to computer systems. Security experts at Kaspersky Lab say Flame gathers data from infected machines using a comprehensive range of tactics. Rather than simply copy files and track online activity, it attempts to track what a user is typing, take screenshots, and even make audio recordings from online telephone ... (view more)

A security company says a newly discovered piece of malicious software ("malware") appears to be heavily based on the Stuxnet worm. Stuxnet, was (as of last year) dubbed the most threatening malware ever created . However, the new version of this ... worm appears to be designed for intelligence gathering to make a future attack easier, rather than causing damage. Stuxnet Virus Attacks Nuclear Reactors Stuxnet was one of the most sophisticated viruses in recent years. Although it spread around the world and infected Windows PCs, its main target was industrial control systems in Iran. ... (view more)

A group of cyber-security experts told US lawmakers Wednesday that American facilities could be the next target of the Stuxnet virus . The Stuxnet virus made headlines this past summer when it infected USB memory sticks and attacked Siemens ... industrial automation systems. Security experts believe that the virus went beyond the work of an individual prankster and was instead a sinister "game changer". That's because unlike most viruses, which aim either to merely cause disruption or to make money through stealing data or by redirecting web browsers to pay-per-click ads, Stuxnet is ... (view more)

Analysis of a major worm virus that specifically targets industrial control systems shows that three-fifths of the infected machines were in Iran. There's now speculation that the country's nuclear program was the target -- and that a national ... government might have been the culprit. It has been known since July that the Stuxnet virus targeted Iran. Over a three-day period that month, 58.85 per cent of all Stuxnet-infected machines were in the country. (Source: symantec.com ) Infrastructure Under Attack The virus is carefully crafted to breach SCADA (supervisory control and data acquisition) ... (view more)