Weapons of cyber mass destruction: U.S. and Israel behind Stuxnet worm attack on Iran, expert claims







They were trying to stop Iran developing a nuclear bomb

It was engineered by people 'who had inside information'

A similar attack could be launched on America



Expert: Ralph Langner claims the U.S. and Israel launched the Stuxnet worm



The U.S. and Israel were behind the catastrophic Stuxnet worm that was unleashed on computers controlling Iran's nuclear program, an expert claimed today.



German computer security expert Ralph Langner said the ringleaders of the cyber 'weapon of mass destruction' were from the U.S. supported by Mossad, the national intelligence agency of Israel.



The Stuxnet worm caused chaos when it targeted large industrial systems in Iran last Summer.



Iranian officials in the capital, Tehran, went on to blame the Jewish state of Israel and the U.S. for the killing of two nuclear scientists in November and January.



'My opinion is that the Mossad is involved,' Langner said while discussing his in-depth Stuxnet analysis at a prestigious TED conference in the Southern California city of Long Beach.



'But, the leading source is not Israel... There is only one leading source, and that is the United States.



'The idea behind Stuxnet computer worm is really quite simple. We don't want Iran to get the bomb.'



The malicious code was crafted to stealthily take control of valves and rotors at an Iranian nuclear plant, according to Langner.

The international community has repeatedly voiced its concerns that Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has developed nuclear weapons.



Stuxnet targets computer control systems made by German industrial giant Siemens and commonly used to manage water supplies, oil rigs, power plants and other critical infrastructure.

Most Stuxnet infections have been discovered in Iran, giving rise to speculation it was intended to sabotage nuclear facilities there. The worm was crafted to recognize the system it was to attack.

'It was engineered by people who obviously had inside information. They probably also knew the shoe size of the operator.



Nuclear concerns: Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad



'The idea here is to circumvent digital data systems, so the human operator could not get there fast enough.



'When digital safety systems are compromised, really bad things can happen -- your plant can blow up.'



It was reported in January that U.S and Israeli intelligence services collaborated to develop the computer worm to sabotage Iran's efforts to make a nuclear bomb.



Russia called on NATO in January to launch an investigation into the computer worm that targeted a Russian-built Iranian nuclear power plant, saying the incident could have triggered a new Chernobyl.



Russia's envoy to NATO said in January that Stuxnet caused centrifuges producing enriched uranium at the Bushehr plant to spin out of control, which could have sparked a new 'Chernobyl tragedy,' the 1986 nuclear meltdown in Ukraine.



The former soviet country is helping Iran build a nuclear power plant in the southern city of Bushehr for civilian use.



'It's definitely hard-core sabotage,' Langner said of Stuxnet. 'It's like in the movies where during a heist the security camera is running pre-recorded video showing nothing is wrong.'



Iran's envoy to the International Atomic Energy Agency has denied that the Stuxnet attack affected the country's nuclear program, including Bushehr.



A terrifying aspect of Stuxnet, according to Langner, is that it is a generic attack that would work well in factories, power plants, or other operations plentiful in the U.S.



'It's a cyber weapon of mass destruction,' Langner said. 'We'd better start preparing right now.'