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Stuxnet: 5 Things Men Should Know

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Stuxnet is a computer worm — or virus — that was developed for the purposes of manipulating and sabotaging industrial controls inside factories, power plants and electric utilities that use Siemens SIMATIC WinCC (Windows) and PCS 7 control systems. As such, CNET describes it as "the first-ever control system malware."

This massive worm (about 1.5 MB) is believed to be industrial espionage of the most sophisticated order, and experts believe that it has a single purpose: to throw a massive wrench into the Iranian nuclear power program, specifically at a site known as Natanz, a uranium enrichment facility that uses Siemens control systems to power centrifuges that enrich uranium and make it weapons-grade.

Well, that's what most experts think. In reality, very little is known for certain about Stuxnet. This worm has been reverse-engineered, hyper-analyzed and speculated upon by the best IT security minds in the world, yet for each bit of information that Stuxnet has given up about itself, more and more remains obscured. The only thing that seems for certain is that Stuxnet — with its unique ability to subvert every known security system and physically manipulate its surroundings — has ushered humankind into a potentially scary new age where computer viruses can interact with the material world like they own the place.

Some say it's a joint venture between the U.S. and Israel. Others suggest that it's Iran's own doing, and the country is just messing with the West. Whatever the case, it is a whodunit of global proportions, and as the mystery rolls on, we're presenting five things men should know about Stuxnet.

1- Stuxnet is the first virus to be active in the physical world

The first thing men should know about Stuxnet is that it can actually reach out and touch you — and not in a good way. 

Computer worms, viruses and malware have been causing relative mayhem since the mid-1980s, when fossils like the Brain virus and the Morris worm got things started rather innocently. By 2000, infamous bugs like the Melissa macro virus and the LoveLetter virus were causing billions of dollars in damage. Until recently, a virus might simply hijack your computer and disable the operating system, or some malware might steal your personal information and your identity. But as bad as those were, they now look like child's play. Never before has a computer virus been able to manipulate devices in the physical world as would human hands. A plant operator will enter a command into his computer, expecting the Programmable Logic Controllers (PLCs) — the actual machinery — to obey his commands. Stuxnet modifies those commands, and it's so clever that the operator will read that all systems are normal, for months or longer, when in fact Stuxnet has severely compromised output or function. 

2- Stuxnet contains a mysterious numerical infection marker

If there's any fun to be had in the Stuxnet saga, it's in the malware's so-called infection marker. If, during infection, Stuxnet stumbles across a specific registry key value in the program that equals the number 19790509, infection stops dead in its tracks. This marker, also called a “do not infect” marker, has become one of Stuxnet's most tantalising details, drawing (overblown) conspiratorial comparisons to the likes of the Da Vinci Code.

Speculation has generally rested upon the number representing the date of an infamous Iranian execution by firing squad of a Jewish man, the first execution of a Jew in the newly established Islamic Republic of Iran, giving weight to those who think Israel is behind the malware. But why make such an important factor — an infection marker — so easily tied to your identity? Wouldn't someone do this to throw people off their trail?  As Symantec writes in its 69-page dossier of Stuxnet, "Attackers would have the natural desire to implicate another party."

We have three more things you should know about Stuxnet next...

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