In 2010, the Natanz uranium enrichment plant in Iran was experiencing rapid failure of centrifuges used to enrich uranium gas. Five months after replacing and repairing the centrifuges, they noticed that computers were crashing and rebooting multiple times. After calling in a third party to investigate, they found many malicious files, which is now classified as the world's first digital weapon.
The bug, known as Stuxnet, was the cause of the failures and crashes. Development of Stuxnet was started in 2005 by several coders in the US and Israel. The bug works similarly to program used in the Russian Pipeline Explosion incident. It was designed to cause physical failures with equipment, however, unlike the pipeline incident, Stuxnet stopped alarms from triggering while continuing to overload equipment and it was able to spread itself to other computers.
While Stuxnet was discovered in 2010, it was released in 2009 and a 'test run' was launched in 2008. In 2009, Stuxnet was injected into 5 outside machines that were believed to connect to the nuclear program. No further information regarding the design/construction of Stuxnet has been released since 2011.
The bug, known as Stuxnet, was the cause of the failures and crashes. Development of Stuxnet was started in 2005 by several coders in the US and Israel. The bug works similarly to program used in the Russian Pipeline Explosion incident. It was designed to cause physical failures with equipment, however, unlike the pipeline incident, Stuxnet stopped alarms from triggering while continuing to overload equipment and it was able to spread itself to other computers.
While Stuxnet was discovered in 2010, it was released in 2009 and a 'test run' was launched in 2008. In 2009, Stuxnet was injected into 5 outside machines that were believed to connect to the nuclear program. No further information regarding the design/construction of Stuxnet has been released since 2011.
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