Middle East Focus: Hacking Iran: Live by the Worm, Die by the Worm?…….

Arabia Deserta

Hacking Iran: Live by the Worm, Die by the Worm?…….

Walking on water

“Security experts say they believe the release of the Stuxnet computer worm may have been a state-backed attack on Iran's nuclear program, most likely originating in the United States or Israel. But they say the truth may never be known. Little information is available on how much damage, if any, Iran's nuclear and wider infrastructure has suffered from Stuxnet -- and Tehran will probably never share the full details. Officials said on Sunday the worm had hit staff computers at the Bushehr nuclear power plant but had not affected major systems there. Some analysts believe Iran may be suffering wider sabotage aimed at slowing down its nuclear ambitions, and point to unexplained technical problems that have cut the number of working centrifuges in its uranium enrichment program. In the short term, intelligence experts believe Tehran's priority will be trying to identify the source of the attack and examining how the worm was uploaded onto its systems……”

They would beabsolutely justified to retaliate, if they can. Butagainst whom? Against which one of the usual suspects? Public opinion in theMiddle East seems to focus on “some organization” in Israel and the UnitedStates as the joint culprit (not the Mossad, their performance lately showsthat there is not as much there as everyone had thought; they needed 35 agentsto barely kill an elderly Palestinian in Dubai). It is still not clear how muchdamage has been done

Tikun Olam (Israel) notes that “The creators of Stuxnet seem to believe that they will not suffer any consequences for their deviltry. It is almost impossible to trace the worm to its original source. So the victims can’t even know for sure who their enemy is. Besides, if the culprit is Israel it has a formidable defense in place to protect its own military and nuclear facilities (a lesson apparently not learned by the Iranians) and so presumably it would be extremely difficult to inflict similar damage……..”
Cheers
mhg

m.h.ghuloum@gmail.com