So stuxworm is more sophisticated than an OS its written for? Sounds ridiculous.
The Stuxnet worm may be the most sophisticated software ever written
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Re: The Stuxnet worm may be the most sophisticated software ever written
#102Earlier quoted context omitted.
Well, to be fair, Iran is trying to build a nuclear weapon and wants to wipe out Israel.
Every time someone brings up "wants to wipe out xyz", I wonder how that would play out. North Korea wants to nuke the US and SK, Iran wants to nuke Israel, Pakistan wants to nuke India, etc. But playing the scenario in your head leaves to a simple conclusion: If either NK or Iran would deploy nukes, it would be their end. It is likely that the US will remain the only nation on this planet who dropped nukes on civilia…
> who dropped nukes on civilians.
While technically true, in Hiroshima were multiple military headquarters and Nagasaki were industrial city and shipyard. Just saying there there was a bit more reasoning behind the selection then "where we could kill the most civilians".
Re: The Stuxnet worm may be the most sophisticated software ever written
#103And then people make a fuss about Russia "hacking" the election with some dumb Facebook ads which cost less than maxed out Ford Mustang. When on the other hand we have the state-sponsored military grade/purpose viruses used to attack other nations/regions (Flume attacked a large number of targets and countries) and nobody blinks an eye.
Those are indicative of the public’s enduring lack of technology literacy, and the media’s desire to have facts and eyeballs meet halfway. Media reports Russian election interference via digital ad spend, astroturfing, and infiltration attempts on state voting systems accurately, but the views to that reporting probably pale in comparison to the oversimplified, tweet-size “Russia hacked the 2016 US election” reporting that gets around more quickly and sticks in the public conversation.
Stuxnet is considerably more sophisticated and technologically more brazen, but won’t get the same reporting. But it’s also worth it to consider whether the lack of awareness/awe over Stuxnet vis a vis Russian election tampering is simply due to technology illiteracy, or whether media is not considering the notability of the means, just the effect of the ends.
Re: The Stuxnet worm may be the most sophisticated software ever written
#104Re: The Stuxnet worm may be the most sophisticated software ever written
#105Earlier quoted context omitted.
Think of controllers for say a dam, or an autopilot system in a jet.
Which you consider worse than the instant obliteration of millions of people?
Mosul dam in Iraq was in serious trouble and some argued that it might collapse after the second Iraq war. If it's ever breached the disaster could kill as many as 1.5 million people living in the city below and displace a further 5 million. It's not beyond the realms of possibility that a Stuxnet aimed at the dam's control systems could kill more people than at attack with nuclear or chemical weapons.
Re: The Stuxnet worm may be the most sophisticated software ever written
#106The other day I had an argument with a proponent of online voting. As a non-techie, he could not understand my security concerns. In his laic view, we all use internet banking every day and nobody stole all the money yet, right?
Just show him or her this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w3_0x6oaDmI
Re: The Stuxnet worm may be the most sophisticated software ever written
#107I am just your average software dev with zero knowledge of malware creation, speculating here, and might come across as a fool.
The author sensationalizes the effort of the creators, painting a Holywoodesque scenario where they break into every possible software company to steal keys to misrepresent the software, going undetected by every possible security company etc. Since this is a Quora post, I can live with him playing to the gallery.
Given the amount of speculation of involvement of US and Israeli intelligence agencies, and the task this worm was assigned, the real effort might have been just about writing a USB worm that identifies specific machines and handing the USB-0 to a double agent (I stopped watching Homeland after season 5 and am rusty with the jargon). The rest of it would have been simply asking all the associated software and hardware companies, politely, to cooperate.
If any of this is true, stuxnet is anything but sophisticated. Its just lots and lots of specific API calls.
That brings up the question: what is sophistication as applied to software?
Re: The Stuxnet worm may be the most sophisticated software ever written
#108"Zero Days" documentary is focused on Stuxnet. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5446858/
Re: The Stuxnet worm may be the most sophisticated software ever written
#109Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'm having a hard time imagining a virtual WMD that is worse than the instant obliteration of millions of people.
You know what's worse than the instant obliteration of millions of people? The slow obliteration and starving of millions of people. Imagine Venezuela, but much much worse. Picture a society that doesn't know how to create institutions, conduct trade and collaborate with the people around them without the aid of a computers. Now, I don't know if disabling their computers would result in an incredibly dysfunctional so…
Actually, in a capitalist country it might be easier to survive such an attack. If there is demand for a product or service, people and businesses will find a way to meet that demand. Millions of people working independently to satisfy their local market demand. It would probably hurt centralized socialist or communist countries more since it severs their control, surveillance, and communication mechanisms.
Re: The Stuxnet worm may be the most sophisticated software ever written
#110The scary thing about this is: Stuxnet is one of the "most sophisticated" pieces of malware we have discovered up until now . Who knows what kinds of software are still out there quietly doing their thing in the shadows.
"Russia has hacked into many of our government entities and domestic companies in the energy, nuclear, commercial facilities, water, aviation and critical manufacturing sectors" https://www.forbes.com/sites/jamesconca/2018/03/16/russia-ha... The same was also reported by MI5, Europol and of course within Ukraine.
Forbes, definitely an objective and impartial source about Russia.