It Looks Like The Devastating New Virus Ripping Through Iran Was A Joint US-Israel Attack

I read (used a simple google search about the flame virus) that it's a 20mb virus that's been able to stay hidden for 2 years. So for the last two years, someone has been spying the middle east.. =)

Also, offcourse you don't let critical systems connect to the internet, but we are still human and are prone to mistakes. That said, there is always a way for information to sip through, even if there is no direct connection to the www.

I wonder where this will go from here on..

btw, i'm not sure about international law on the use of internet. But i thought it was a crime to steal information and not an official act of war according to the standards of declaring war by the rules of geneve. (a bit rusty on military rules)

reply to post by TritonTaranis




It is no more important to me than Burkina Faso, it is just another country, it neither "annoys" or "excites" me- we should not be fighting its battles is my point

Originally posted by Nspekta
So, is this it? Are the US and Israel at war with Iran officially? Certainly, if this s true, its an act of war, no?

If Iran didn't buck at Stuxnet, I doubt they'll kick too hard at this. I know I'm a douchesploosh for saying so, but if nuclear capability is really the issue and not just a beard being used to cover another territory-grab, isn't this approach preferable to a land-war when it comes to dealing with the problem?

But, dudes. Maybe make a little more effort to cover your tracks, yeah? Having it traced back to you so quickly is a total embarrassment.

reply to post by Eidolon23


Conceding that having it traced back to the source after the fait was accompli might have been part of the plan, I still don't see the advantage in being globally perceived to have conducted a joint cyber-op campaign.

Unless it's some weird strategic form of "Boo-yah!"-ism.

"Yeah, it was us! Whatcha gonna do about it, punk-ass Iran? Boo-yah!"

reply to post by JBA2848

Originally posted by JBA2848
They leave out the fact that Serco and Siemens were involved in STUXnet.
Serco UK
Siemens France

Sounds more like NATO or the UN to me.

The only difference between NATO, UN, EU and USA is the abbreviations.

It's all the same people in control anyway.

Why did you write 'devastating virus' like people were getting ill or something?!

It's just a computer virus, no one is ill from it! Maybe the title should say computer virus instead so people aren't mislead by the title.

Originally posted by kidtwist
Why did you write 'devastating virus' like people were getting ill or something?!

It's just a computer virus, no one is ill from it! Maybe the title should say computer virus instead so people aren't mislead by the title.

That is the title of the article, t&c of breaking news says you have to use the title as it is. I didnt personally write it. Ps, a computer virus makes computers 'ill', no?

If you want to meet a guy who would be neck deep.

ie.linkedin.com...

And the part that really shows he is neck deep is the last part.

University of Limerick Computer Engineering, Computer Engineering
2001 – 2006

FInal Year Project:
Simulation of Security Protocols over Low Powered Wireless Sensor Networks using
TinyOS: Involved research into various methods of encryption that could be implemented
into low powered wireless sensor networks. This required the learning of a new
programming language NesC, and the use of many experimental Simulators including
Avrora, SHAWN and TOSSIM. I also had to gain an intimate knowledge of Linux. In the end
I showed the tradeoffs of using different forms of encryption in regards to power usage,
CPU latency and radio packet size.

This virus. Skywiper,STUXnet,Duqu is all TinyOS with NesC. And its been used by the FBI to turn cellphones into recording devices and used to create a virus that has attacked Iran.

reply to post by princeofpeace

To answer your question "is this an act of war?"

It depends hoss. How do you view all of the recent Chinese hacks into the US military's computers? Is THAT an act of war?

Computers are unchartered territory...no one has defined if its war but we will find out.

Ok, well you can;t really answer a question with a question.. just sayin'.
Thats also why is asked about Chinese hacks into the US systems... Is it that same? Is it an act of war?

Maybe the difference is, when the Chinese hacks, they are just trying to take and gather data, and not planting viruses. To me, that makes a difference.. If you are stealing data (which is espionage and every country and industry does that) thats not so bad as planting a destrucrtive virus with the intent on causing damage to systems. To me, planting a virus like this is an act of war. You are destroying military property, messing with defensive systems and offensive systems.

What do you think?

Someone who should be asked what he knows about all this is Dixon Doll. Some body no body has ever heard of yes. But neck deep with all this. But Dixon Doll is just a venture capitalist rich guy? Well he was involved in Facebook as one of the original funders with the CIA In-Q-Tel. Yes Facebook got the boot from Government funding and put out to the public where it will now die. Can't afford all the expense of running a old spy database any more. Besides its losing popularity and its cover is blown. But Dixon Doll is also involved with Koch Brothers who most likely delivered the virus to Iran with its illegal sales of equipment to Iran. Strange another connection to the virus. I don't think he wrote the virus he just played a big part in picking the companies to deliver where it needed to go and knew the people at the top to do it above everybodies head. This guy Dixon Doll even was behind Renren Inc which is Chinas version of Facebook. This guy is global with his connections. Its hard to create a map of every where he is. Unusual for someone with so many connections to not have a complete picture of who he is or where he is connected.

www.nationalcorruptionindex.org...

Dixon Doll
Last Updated: May 01, 2008
Dixon Doll’s equity firm, Doll Capital Management (DCM), partners with numerous Chinese technology ventures, as he moves through the shadow world of the CIA, invasive software control and Bush family initiatives.

He sold one of his companies to Sybase, founded by presidential brother Marvin Bush. Sybase was first to market the omnipotent software required by the Patriot Act for foreign financial firms doing business with the US.

He sold another one, Recourse Technologies, to Symantec, a corporate behemoth with major defense contracts and popularly known for its anti-viral software (Norton Anti-Virus).

Symantec also owns cutting edge and potentially intrusive software programs modified from a data-mining breakthrough in the ‘80s.

Originally known as PROMIS, it created a new dimension of information for US prosecutors by merging their files into a new system greater than the sum of its parts.

At Secure Elements, Doll sat on the board with Mark Frantz, a Carlyle veteran who also had worked at In-Q-Tel, an arm of the CIA that gives venture capital to companies developing technologies that could improve the intelligence capabilities. In-Q-Tel funded SRA International (SRX: NYSE) to apply its “NetOwl” text mining technology to the CIA’s daily world briefing reports, and has also funded SafeWeb, another company that was acquired by Symantec in 2003. In-Q-Tel’s for-profit affiliate, In-Q-Tel Employees Fund LLC, often bought stock in the same funds as In-Q-Tel, reaping profits as high as 1,400 percent on questionable penny-stock and pump-and-dump investments.

In 2005, Phillip Merrill, Chairman of the U.S. Export-Import Bank,refused to approve an $800 million loan guarantee for SMIC.

He was forced to resign within months, and President George W. attempted to install his former college sweetheart, April Foley, as head of the US Ex-Im Bank. Rising criticism ended the nomination process.

Phillip Merrill’s body was found in the Cheasepeake Bay, his legs weighted and a shotgun blast to his head..

Doll also sits on the board of Netwok Equipment Technologies, Coradiant, Goodmail Systems, Adspace Mall Network, and Zamba, Inc.

Thing is, it could be any nation on earth.

Ask the question..who gains the most if israel and iran go to war?

I can name off a ton of different countries that would like to see one or both in a war and lose some of its power. It could be the obvious characters here, but thats too obvious.
This is why in depth investigations are held. Hell, it might be Saudi Arabia wanting to be the unchallenged middle east nation, therefore trying to get Iran angry enough to attack

Originally posted by Nspekta
reply to post by princeofpeace

 

To answer your question "is this an act of war?"

It depends hoss. How do you view all of the recent Chinese hacks into the US military's computers? Is THAT an act of war?

Computers are unchartered territory...no one has defined if its war but we will find out.

Ok, well you can;t really answer a question with a question.. just sayin'.
Thats also why is asked about Chinese hacks into the US systems... Is it that same? Is it an act of war?

No. Not really
Theoretically, Gary Mckinnen caused like a quarter million in damage by his "hacking" (logging in). but we weren't going to war with england over it.
Its cyber warfare...so in the cyber world, there has been a global war raging for years against governments and individuals...welcome to the chaos of the net.
If say, a clear hack was done by a government that launched bombs and people died, then your talking about something different though..when loss of life occurs, it has moved from digital to physical, and actions will probably be taken...but until someone hacks a hospital and shuts down all the ICU's, the war is held in the ether.

You all probably already know this, but just in case I thought The Register's recent article had good info (assuming it's all true, of course):

'Super-powerful' Flame worm actually boring BLOATWARE

antivirus experts at Kaspersky Labs and Hungarian security researchers at the Laboratory of Cryptography and System Security (CrySyS), who had been independently working on analysing the same malware, published their own preliminary analyses.

The Kaspersky experts had been called in by the International Telecommunication Union, which wanted to crack the riddle of a mystery Trojan outbreak that was wiping data off compromised machines in the Middle East.

Flame, which comes with a complex variety of libraries and swappable modules, weighs in at a monster (arguably bloated) 20MB. That's about 40 times larger than Stuxnet, a heavyweight itself by malware standards.

First alleged use: Data wiping.

Estimates from Kaspersky (here) suggest Flame has only infected 1,000 Windows-powered computers almost exclusively across the Middle East in countries including Iran, Israel and Syria, though it has been found as far down as Sudan in north Africa.

Compromised targets include governmental organisations, educational institutions and home users. Circumstantial evidence suggests that the data-stealing malware infected systems at Iran's main oil export terminal on Kharg Island in the Persian Gulf last month, prompting a decision to disconnect systems there. Flame may also have infected the computers of high-ranking officials, causing a "massive" data loss, unconfirmed reports suggest.

First alleged targets: 1,000 windows machines in governmental organisations, educational institutions and home users in Iran, Israel and Syria, though it has been found as far down as Sudan in North Africa. Special not of the "Kharg Island infection" which affected some 189 machines directly involved in the oil transport industry.

The malware infects computers running Microsoft's operating system, and stealthily installs itself before stealing information, logging keystrokes, sniffing network traffic and capturing screenshots. It can also surreptitiously turn on microphones to record audio conversations, and then uploads all of this data to remote command-and-control servers.

Flame is built with many interlinked modules and is capable of handling a complex mix of remote instructions. Dozens of pieces of malware or malware frameworks infecting millions of PCs bundle similar capabilities.

Second allegation of use: Stealing information, logging keystrokes, sniffing network traffic and capturing screenshots, turn on microphones to record audio conversations, and then uploads all of this data to remote command-and-control servers. It also sniffs Bluetooth devices if the machine is infected can do so.

Since flame is "modular" is has apparently a wide variety of applications.

reply to post by SaturnFX


But Gary M. was not doing it on behalf of his nation (ostensibly) and his intent was not economic or industrial sabotage... no? So we can't really consider that 'government-sponsored.'

Originally posted by Maxmars
reply to post by SaturnFX

 

But Gary M. was not doing it on behalf of his nation (ostensibly) and his intent was not economic or industrial sabotage... no? So we can't really consider that 'government-sponsored.'

There will more than likely never be a hacking attempt that will be officially claimed by a government...if say it does lead back to israel..they will simply say..oh, ya..seems it did come from israel..meh, some kid probably did it.

Legion did it!

Confirmed: US and Israel created Stuxnet, lost control of it

Seems as though it has been CONFIRMED that this attack was a joint US/Israel attack, please see the above thread

Thx

reply to post by SaturnFX


Good point....

I think SkyTerra Communications, Inc being shut down is deeply involved. Who is tied to OPnet. And even News Corp. GPS interference was claimed as the reason SkyTerra Communications, Inc lost there contracts and filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. And this would be the time our drone was taken by GPS hacking in Iran. OPnet is TinyOS spy tech. They are tied to Booz Allen Hamilton who runs the drone spying programs for the CIA.

enterprise1.opnet.com...

Contributed Papers

Pub ID Author Pub Date Publisher Contributor
1432 D. Sumorok, D. Starobinski, A. Trachtenberg 00/00/00 OPNETWORK 2004 Weiyao Xiao Download
Title: Simulation of TinyOS Wireless Sensor Networks using OPNET
Many of the sensors finding their way into sensor networks run a lightweight operating system developed at U.C. Berkeley called TinyOS. This open-source operating system, designed specifically for highly-constrained wireless devices, enables building a variety of applications using highly modular code. Over one hundred groups worldwide, and several company products, use TinyOS.

Our main contribution in this paper is a simulation interface for compiling TinyOS applications to OPNET model. Our approach harnesses the wealth of tools made available by OPNET, such as wireless channel modeling, scenario management, and collected data management. Using OPNET it is thus possible to simultaneously simulate multiple instantiations of different TinyOS applications, as well as the interaction of TinyOS sensors with other hardware devices (e.g., Ethernet and IP nodes).

As part of our preliminary results, we have incorporated the timer, LED, and radio interfaces of TinyOS sensors into an OPNET model. Within our implementation, TinyOS radio packets are converted to OPNET packets and sent and received using the OPNET API (although currently all communications links are modeled as full-duplex serial links). We present two simulation results as proofs of our concept: an LED-based counter, and a location-detection system. These promising results demonstrate the viability of our approach to bridging the TinyOS world with the available infrastructure in the OPNET world.

www.linkedin.com...

I am a college graduate student from University of Southern California (USC), Los Angeles and am doing my Masters in Electrical Engineering.
As a Student at USC, I have developed applications in multiple languages and on multiple platforms. I am proficient using Java, C, and C++ and am very well familiar with Network Protocols like HTTP, DNS, ARP, DHCP, TCP/IP,UDP, OSPF, RIP, BGP etc. Also I have the strong experience with software tools like MATLAB, Wireshark, OPNET, TinyOS, NetBeans, and Eclipse. I have the experience of working in a team as evident from my academic projects. My experience as a developer and trainee, has taught me to work both as a team player and as an individual. I assure you the best of my efforts, to achieve beyond the goals set towards me.
.

A job app listing all the hacking tools used by the government.
MATLAB, Wireshark, OPNET, TinyOS, NetBeans, and Eclipse.

isnt this the second time that israel has done some sneaky sh!t like this ?

why are they doing little stupid things to piss iran off? is israel or the US to SCARED to shoot the first round or shoot theyre rockets ? oh yea cause iran has the BIG DAWGs "RUSSIA"

the us and israel always tend to do some dumb stuff andstill get caught doing it....

its a matter of time for IRAN to do something back and i dont think it will be nice just cant wait till it starts cause WE ALL KNOW there is DEF a WW3 around the corner