Bekker's Blog

Blog archive

Putting Stuxnet in a Larger Context

I've been slightly obsessed with the Stuxnet worm (see Unpacked Stuxnet Is Ugly for the Channel).

Now Newsweek has a lengthy article tying the worm together with the late November bomb attacks on Iranian nuclear scientists. In my admittedly obsessive view, the article is worth a read.

Authors Christopher Dickey, R.M. Schneiderman and Babak Dehghan Pisheh have put together a pretty good summary of the state of play. For example, one thing I missed in my Thanksgiving turkey leftover-induced haze was that on the day of the scientist bombings, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad made the first Iranian government acknowledgement that a cyberattack had damaged some Iranian centrifuges.

Bottom line, nearly everything remains murky.

Key quote from Newsweek:

"What we can deduce from the limited evidence that has emerged so far, according to former White House counterterrorism and cyberwarfare adviser Richard Clarke, is that at least two countries conducted operations against Iran simultaneously and not necessarily in close coordination. One likely carried out the hits; the other created and somehow infiltrated the highly sophisticated Stuxnet worm into computers of the Iranian nuclear program."

Posted by Scott Bekker on December 14, 2010


Featured

  • Microsoft Offers Support Extensions for Exchange 2016 and 2019

    Microsoft has introduced a paid Extended Security Update (ESU) program for on-premises Exchange Server 2016 and 2019, offering a crucial safety cushion as both versions near their Oct. 14, 2025 end-of-support date.

  • An image of planes flying around a globe

    2025 Microsoft Conference Calendar: For Partners, IT Pros and Developers

    Here's your guide to all the IT training sessions, partner meet-ups and annual Microsoft conferences you won't want to miss.

  • Notebook

    Microsoft Centers AI, Security and Partner Dogfooding at MCAPS

    Microsoft's second annual MCAPS for Partners event took place Tuesday, delivering a volley of updates and directives for its partners for fiscal 2026.

  • Microsoft Layoffs: AI Is the Obvious Elephant in the Room

    As Microsoft doubles down on an $80 billion bet on AI this fiscal year, its workforce reductions are drawing scrutiny over whether AI's ascent is quietly reshaping its human capital strategy, even as official messaging avoids drawing a direct line.