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Geek Culture / Stuxnet - A Cyber Weapon?

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Yodaman Jer
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Posted: 22nd Sep 2010 19:33
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This is more than a little scary. Article.

Apparently, some pretty clever programmers somewhere in the world engineered a virus (more like a digital bomb) that is seeking a specific computer to destroy, or at least destroy a part of. It is definitely looking for a certain computer controlling something large; it's already infected thousands of computer controlled industries. Experts are afraid it's going to destroy a nuclear power plant in Iran.

So now, we have the technology to seek out a specific computer and destroy it. This is lovely. And here we thought computers would fix everything!

There's always a downside to good things...

What do you guys think?

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entomophobiac
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Posted: 22nd Sep 2010 19:45
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Don't read too much into it. "Cyber security experts say..." -- an article that starts that way is probably sensationalism at its finest.
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AutoBot
15
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Posted: 22nd Sep 2010 19:46
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Well, I hope it doesn't get my computer.

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Fatal Berserker
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Posted: 22nd Sep 2010 20:38
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Quote: "Apparently, some pretty clever programmers somewhere in the world engineered a virus "

Almost definitely hired by a government body.

Smoke me a kipper, ill be back for breakfast.
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General Jackson
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Posted: 22nd Sep 2010 23:15
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I just read the whole thing.
WOW.
That is amazing, and frightening at the same time.

The 2,000,000th TGC post was made in MY ww2 weapons thread!

(I should now be a TGC legend, right?)
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Yodaman Jer
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Posted: 23rd Sep 2010 01:05
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It's pretty interesting. Somehow this piece of malware can analyze each computer it inhabits to determine if it's the right system. If it is, it's designed to override a function to control something...they're just not sure what. If it's not in the right system, it just ignores it and doesn't do anything. It is SPECIFICALLY designed to destroy one computer somewhere, and that's it. And somehow it knows exactly what it's looking for and ignores everything else.

Who else thinks this'd make a good plot for a show?

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Fatal Berserker
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Posted: 23rd Sep 2010 01:17
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Quote: "Who else thinks this'd make a good plot for a show?"

With very cheesy nerdy lines.
Im here to give out queries and stack overflows, and im all out of queries.

Smoke me a kipper, ill be back for breakfast.
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Neuro Fuzzy
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Posted: 23rd Sep 2010 03:17
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NOOOO! not a stack overflow!!!


It was bound to happen... and this article sounds legitimate. It sounds like the nuclear power plant thingy isn't based on much fact.

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Tom J
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Posted: 23rd Sep 2010 03:42
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Stuxnet doesn't sound dissimilar to skynet (dun dun dun )
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AutoBot
15
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Posted: 23rd Sep 2010 03:47
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I'm scared... What's going to happen to me?!?! I am going to lose my computer!! EVERYBODY PANIC!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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ionstream
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Posted: 23rd Sep 2010 04:55
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Each time that article used the word "cyber," it lost a credibility point. Its currently at -169.

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Libervurto
18
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Posted: 23rd Sep 2010 12:05
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Quote: "Stuxnet's arrival heralds something blindingly new: a cyber weapon created to cross from the digital realm to the physical world – to destroy something."

err yeah this is Skynet. John Connor must have gotten the name wrong.

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Syncaidius
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Posted: 23rd Sep 2010 12:14 Edited at: 23rd Sep 2010 12:16
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If they didn't all use Windows to run their machines in power plants, factories etc, they wouldn't have this problem... at least until people start making viruses for the other OS'es... which is when you switch back to Windows.

I see it on TV sometimes where you get some guy showing how stuff is made in a factory, and you see the workers using Windows on touch screen computers telling the machines what to do.


Forum Thread
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Michael P
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Posted: 23rd Sep 2010 12:17
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Solution: don't provide any way for the virus to get onto the computer, no internet, no USB etc = hurray the nuclear power plants are safe.

DarkNet - multiplayer plugin
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Libervurto
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Posted: 23rd Sep 2010 12:40
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I am sceptical that a usb stick or internet connection would be anywhere near a computer controlling a nuclear reactor.

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Van B
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Posted: 23rd Sep 2010 12:50
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Quote: "I am sceptical that a usb stick or internet connection would be anywhere near a computer controlling a nuclear reactor."


Yeah, probably no chance of a computer like that even being designed to access the internet. What would concern me is the ancillary systems, like fire detection, cooling, and valve control equipment that would run alongside. For instance there might be a coolant pump connected to a control PC, which could well have internet access to allow remote monitoring and maintenance. We had a major fire at work (wiped out a silicon wafer fab) because a temperature sensor connected to a PC failed - god only knows what a trained engineer 'could' do through remote maintenance on these systems.

Health, Ammo, and bacon and eggs!
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lazerus
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Posted: 23rd Sep 2010 17:45
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Far too many 'cyber' use's in there, they need a better writer lol. I get they want to seem in the know but to the point it becomes stupidly obvious they dont have a clue and are regurgitating + exagerating a few facts.


http://lazerus-reborn.deviantart.com/
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AutoBot
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Posted: 23rd Sep 2010 17:54
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Which is why we need more cyber-security experts running the cyber-malware protection systems. We could also use some better cyber operating systems for better cyber-security.

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Rampage
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Posted: 24th Sep 2010 01:53
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Least we can say it will come in handy when Skynet takes over...


Eidos!
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bitJericho
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Posted: 24th Sep 2010 19:27
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Shoot! They discovered my virus intended to destroy Van's computer!! :o

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AutoBot
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Posted: 24th Sep 2010 19:57 Edited at: 24th Sep 2010 19:57
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Quote: "Shoot! They discovered my virus intended to destroy Van's computer!! :o"


The truth comes out!

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Yodaman Jer
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Posted: 24th Sep 2010 21:33
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Yeah, they way overused "cyber" for sure. Reminded me of the '90s, when the "hacker" kids in sitcoms constantly said it.

Updated article. Haven't read through the whole thing, but it's interesting so far.

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Fatal Berserker
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Posted: 24th Sep 2010 22:09
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it sounds like windows can just patch it...
i dont see how it can cause a computer to explode though... i think thats a hoax.

Smoke me a kipper, ill be back for breakfast.
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Yodaman Jer
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Posted: 24th Sep 2010 22:46 Edited at: 24th Sep 2010 22:47
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Certain programs running on computers in an industrial facility control certain things like valves on pipes and shut-off switches on other things. Like any program, it checks for a certain condition that tells the computer to either turn the valve this or that way at a certain time, or to shut something off or to turn something on, etc.,. As with all programs, if someone knows what they're doing, they can override that function and make it do something else, which is what they're afraid Stuxnet is designed for. It's sort of a "patch" that will wreak havoc on some system if they don't catch it. And thus it could literally cause something to explode in the physical world, if it overheats or something or isn't shut off at a certain time...

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Blobby 101
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Posted: 24th Sep 2010 23:48
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yeah - If this were to say, override the control rods in a nuclear power plant the reactor would basically turn into a massive nuclear bomb :/

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CoffeeGrunt
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Posted: 25th Sep 2010 01:11
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Just disabling the graphite rods would be dangerous enough if it could do that...

7045 Forum Messages
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It's been a good three years.
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