US counterterrorism expert Richard Clarke, who came to prominence with his prescient warnings before the 9/11 attacks, tells Smithsonian Magazine the US was responsible for the Stuxnet supersmart worm that attacked parts of nuclear reactors in Iran – and in the process, has given away one of the world's most sophisticated cyberweapons.
I'm quite sure he's right about China; I just thought he was trying hard to give the impression he knows more about Stuxnet than he does know.
Rosenbaum has been around for years as a columnist. Always interesting, but I find he tends to give things a dramatic spin. That's evident in his style here, I think.
I don't know anything about Ron Rosenbaum. However, as you point out, it's already widely suspected that Stuxnet was a product of the U.S. and Israel. Its origin story is less interesting than Clarke's contention the worm itself is sitting out there in a number of places ready to be re-engineered by someone who might want to turn the tech against its originators.
I suppose it could be possible Clarke is trying to drum up business for his inside-the-Beltway consultancy, Good Harbor (http://www.goodharbor.net/index.php). But those places are more or less revolving doors for military intelligence types anyway. They eat lots of lunches with their former colleagues and they don't name names.
This is not the first time he (Clarke) has raised the Chinese cyberespionage spectre either:
I read the Smithsonian article when it appeared, and came away much less impressed with it. Journalist Ron Rosenbaum has a gift for melodrama.
Clarke may indeed think that Stuxnet was developed by the US. It's very widely believed that it was developed by the US, Israel, or the two together. But the article doesn't imply he has any evidence:
One reason to believe the Stuxnet attack was made in the USA, Clarke says, "was that it very much had the feel to it of having been written by or governed by a team of Washington lawyers."
"What makes you say that?" I asked.
"Well, first of all, I've sat through a lot of meetings with Washington [government/Pentagon/CIA/NSA-type] lawyers going over covert action proposals. And I know what lawyers do.'
So you're saying that those in the know choose to hide the identities of the Stuxnet creators? Or that hacking is going on at so many levels that authorities can't keep up?
MJ " It surprises me that the identity of the Stuxnet creators is still kind of fuzzy."
why does it surprise you? ask yourself the hard questions. why does hacking go on and on and on like a revolving door? perhaps it IS a revolving door?
what was Hoglund doing for HB\Gary\Federal? making 'undetectable' root kits for the Fed ( i have a reference to this someplace; i can't verify it myself: i don't know the man ) .
consider thte possibility that 'security is un-attainable' is actually propaganda
It surprises me that the identity of the Stuxnet creators is still kind of fuzzy. Surely if we know as much about the worm as we do, we know that engineers from Israel did or did not help out.
That's the problem with a worm -- it tends to wind up in unexpected places. Fortunately, it seems it would only have an effect on two particular types of machinery that run nuclear reactors, so it has an incredibly specific target. Otherwise it's "benign." But it seems that the code is out there for anyone to re-engineer.
The idea that an effort like Stuxnet could backfire this way is scary. The skill that went into planning this program obviously didn't extend to being thorough in implementing it.
It wouldn't be the first time, but a group of Chinese engineers has proposed a means by which the Internet's root could be split, enabling secondary, independent networks that could be government-controlled. The Internet's root security committee is taking such proposals seriously.
ICANN is now offering refunds to new applicants for its top-level domain initiative, 10 years in the making, because the application system was taken offline due to a "glitch." ICANN has collected over $350 million in application fees, but we don't know what that number might be after refunds. Is this any way to run the Domain Name System?
Blackhole 1.2.3, the latest version of the most popular black-market exploit kit, apparently has already been used by Brazilian fraudsters to try to perpetrate a scam. The new kit, released at the end of March, can bypass sandboxes in Java, and the Brazilians used it to try to convince accountants they were about to lose licenses.
A problem with ICANN's application software has delayed the "big reveal" of new domain names for two weeks. What the organization calls a "glitch" allowed some domain applicants to see the data of others – not exactly inspiring confidence in ICANN's ability to bring potentially hundreds of new names online.
ICANN is in a crisis. But if it goes away, so will its unique "multistakeholder model," which allows Internet users to participate alongside business, government, and industry.
As ICANN's former board chairman grabs a plum job with a domain seller, we're left to wonder just how many new registrations are "defensive," claimed by companies worried about protecting their brands.
The board of ICANN, the international non-profit that administers the domain name system, announced CEO Rod Beckstrom would be leaving at the end of his term next summer. It's time for consumers and business to tell the organization what kind of person they want to lead it – and what priorities to set.
Free wireless is like tap water in Europe and Asia. Why is the US so far behind? Because of a near-religious commitment to non-government interference in markets, America lacks basic wireless infrastructure and will pay the price competitively.
Only a few new domain name applications have been given the go-ahead, so be wary of offers for "pre-registration" of the .suffix of your choice. Most likely, the registrars making such offers don't have the authority.
The FBI recently issued a warning to smartphone users, highlighting two mobile malware applications: Loozfan, which steals personal information, and FinFisher, which is spyware that takes over a smartphone's functions.
Sean Smith, a US Foreign Service IT manager, gave his life in service of his country and the world. His life and death are a humbling example for all of us who work in IT.
The world’s most powerful supercomputer now resides in Japan, but the US would like to reclaim the lead. The Oak Ridge National Lab in Tennessee, which is part of the US Department of Energy, is building a supercomputer that will be used for such tasks as simulating nuclear explosions.
Is China a threat because it censors US sites, or could it be that the country might have an economic formula that will out-innovate us on the Internet that we invented?
Cyber Warfare may be the next frontier for tactical hacking. It has already reared its head in Estonia, Russia, and Georgia, and some say it has been used by North Korea, China, and other world powers. The implications and the potential are both fascinating and scary.
50 billion household devices will be on the Internet by 2020, according to Cisco. And we're hearing foreign governments are hacking our infrastructure. Surely our refrigerators are next!
ITRC found that more than 600 security breaches took place in 2012. Flaws were found in some of the nation's most respected companies: Apple, Citibank, and Wells Fargo. So, it seems the bad guys are doing better than the men in the white hats.
Cisco's rumored sale of Linksys suggests we may have problem with innovation and profit at the edge of our Internet, and that could be critical to the evolution of many Internet-delivered services.
Expert Integrated Systems: Changing the Experience & Economics of IT In this e-book, we take an in-depth look at these expert integrated systems -- what they are, how they work, and how they have the potential to help CIOs achieve dramatic savings while restoring IT's role as business innovator. READ THIS eBOOK
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