Malware hits industrial equipment

[tw]

From the NY Times of 25 Sept 2010:

Iran Fights Malware Attacking Computers
Stuxnet, which computer experts say is a far cry from common computer malware that has affected the Internet for years. A worm is a self-replicating malware computer program. A virus is malware that infects its target by attaching itself to programs or documents.

Stuxnet, which was first publicly identified several months ago, is aimed solely at industrial equipment made by Siemens that controls oil pipelines, electric utilities, nuclear facilities and other large industrial sites. While it is not clear that Iran was the main target - the infection has also been reported in Indonesia, Pakistan, India and elsewhere - a disproportionate number of computers inside Iran appear to have been struck, according to reports by computer security monitors. ...

Based on what he knows of Stuxnet, Mr. Lewis said, the United States is "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."