It seems as if the stealthy Stuxnet worm managed to remain undercover for almost a year in Iranian networks before it was positively identified by independent security experts.
According to Symantec, the worm utilized multiple Windows zero-day vulnerabilities to infect computers without (initially) alerting system administrators to its presence.
As such, Stuxnet successfully executed attacks against five different organizations, generating at least 12,000 infections.
As TG Daily previously noted, the worm affected systems in facilities crucial to the country’s nuclear program, such as Natanz and Bushehr.
Recent reports indicate that Stuxnet infected at least 30,000 PCs and disabled a significant number of uranium enriching centrifuges.
According to the New York Times, Stuxnet was a joint American-Israeli project coded in the hopes of derailing Iran’s nuclear program.
(Via Computer World & Symantec)
