By now, we’ve all heard about Stuxnet and Duqu, and to date, no one has claimed ownership of either malware. Was it the US? Israel? France? Germany? Or perhaps it was Siemens wanting to sell upgraded centrifuges? Or was it one of their rivals bidding for the nuclear business?
Whoever wrote it, state-sponsored and corporate-sponsored malware is on the rise.
From Wikipedia:
Stuxnet is a computer worm discovered in June 2010. It targets Siemens industrial software and equipment running Microsoft Windows.[1] While it is not the first time that hackers have targeted industrial systems,[2] it is the first discovered malware that spies on and subverts industrial systems,[3] and the first to include a programmable logic controller (PLC) rootkit.[4][5]
The worm initially spreads indiscriminately, but includes a highly specialized malware payload that is designed to target only Siemens supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) systems that are configured to control and monitor specific industrial processes.[6][7] Stuxnet infects PLCs by subverting the Step-7 software application that is used to reprogram these devices.[8]
