Natanz

U.S. general warns of Iran's growing cyber strength

Learning a lesson from the Stuxnet attack, Iran has beefed up its cyber forces and poses a greater threat to the United States.

At least, that was the word of warning from U.S. Air Force General William Shelton yesterday, according to Reuters. Speaking with reporters, Shelton said that the Iranian government has increased its cyber efforts since and as a result of being hit by Stuxnet.

In 2010, the infamous computer worm was unleashed in Iran and other countries. Designed to seize control of power grids and other industrial control systems, Stuxnet infected computers at Iran's Natanz nuclear … Read more

Stuxnet delivered to Iranian nuclear plant on thumb drive

An Iranian double agent working for Israel used a standard thumb drive carrying a deadly payload to infect Iran's Natanz nuclear facility with the highly destructive Stuxnet computer worm, according to a story by ISSSource.

Stuxnet quickly propagated throughout Natanz -- knocking that facility offline and at least temporarily crippling Iran's nuclear program -- once a user did nothing more than click on a Windows icon. The worm was discovered nearly two years ago.

ISSSource's report yesterday was based on sources inside the U.S. intelligence community.

These sources, who requested anonymity because of their close proximity … Read more

Stuxnet expert: Other sites were hit but Natanz was true target

Stuxnet may have hit different organizations, but its main target was still the Natanz nuclear enrichment plant in Iran, an expert who has analyzed the code said today.

Ralph Langner, who has been analyzing the code used in the complicated Stuxnet worm that used a Windows hole to target industrial control systems used in gas pipelines and power plants last year and possibly earlier, said the initial distribution of Stuxnet was limited to a few key installations.

"My bet is that one of the infected sites is Kalaye Electric," he wrote in an e-mail to CNET. "Again, … Read more