The recently discovered Studnex Worm is thought to have been created to take control of equipment used in Iran's nuclear program and to create a two year setback for their nuclear ambition plans. "It would take some time to establish Stars' intended purpose", said Gholam Reza Jalali, military head of the Iranian Passive Defence Organization. "The Stars virus has been presented to the laboratory but is still being investigated," he said. "No definite final conclusions have been reached." Mr Jalali revealed that the virus could have been "mistaken for executive files of governmental organizations", but gave no indication about who might be behind the attack.
"Stars" follows "Stuxnet"
Last week, the same official suggested that Stuxnet was the work of the United States in colaboration with Israel and warned that it could have caused large-scale accidents and loss of life. Iranian officials have previously pointed the finger at the US and Israel even though no firm evidence has been produced. Stuxnet first came to light in July 2010. Analysis by security firm Symantec showed that, while it could be transmitted via the internet, it was designed to infect specific types of industrial controllers. Stuxnet is believed to have been designed to target Iran's uranium enrichment facility at Natanz. The machinery in question was used to control centrifuges at Iran's Natanz uranium enrichment facility. Most experts who have looked at the case agree, given the scale and complexity of Stuxnet, that a foreign state was probably behind its development.
Ralph Langner told a conference in California that the malicious software was designed to cripple systems that could help build an Iranian bomb.
Mr Langner was one of the first researchers to show how Stuxnet could take control of industrial equipment. It is widely believed that its target was machinery used to enrich uranium. Speaking at the TED conference in Long Beach, California, Mr Langner said: "My opinion is that Mossad, Israel's intelligence agency is involved." However he speculated that Israel was not the main driver behind the creation of Stuxnet. "There is only one leading source, and that is the United States," said Mr Langner. In a recent report on Stuxnet, the security firm Symantec said that it would have taken a team of between five and 10 developers, six months to create the worm. Mr Langner said that the project would have required "inside information", so detailed that "they probably knew the shoe size of the operator. Stuxnet first came to light in July 2010. Nearly 60% of reported infections were inside Iran.
Damaging centrifuges
The worm targets industrial control systems, known as programmable logic controllers (PLCs), made by Siemens. While PLCs are used to control a wide variety of automated systems, it is believed that it was those inside Iran's nuclear facilities that were the intended target. Analysts who have examined the Stuxnet code say it could have been used to damage centrifuges which play a crucial role in the process of enriching uranium for both nuclear power and weapons. The United States and Israel have led an international campaign to halt Iran's nuclear program, however there is no hard evidence to link either country to the creation of Stuxnet.
Earlier in the week Iran's Interior Ministry denied that Stuxnet had been responsible for a shutdown at the country's Bushehr nuclear reactor.
A report by the International Atomic Energy Agency showed that Russian engineers working at the plant had removed 163 fuel rods. Iranian sources said that the action was taken as a result of problems with the rods, rather than Stuxnet.
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