The facts about Stuxnet

Several blogs by Symantec have been written on the subject of Stuxnet, said that analysis of Stuxnet has been ongoing for some time now, and that it has been continuously analysing the threat since it was discovered earlier this year.
Initial investigation into the threat pointed to a command and control infrastructure as the method to control the threat. However the command and control servers used were taken offline shortly after this control mechanism was discovered. It is targeting software such as Siemens Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) which controls industrial control systems and turns out a code risk that gives control of the software within the industry and the complete manufacturing process. It still exists and is still active, it has affected the consumer but unless they are running Scada is will not do much to them. This is the most sophisticated malware I have seen in years.


Stuxnet raises the bar on sophistication and has been widely considered by the security community to be the first of many types of weaponised malware structured for industrial espionage. There is no evidence of the motive, although Iran had the highest level infections. Digital certificates show a tenuous link to China, but there is no evidence to back that up.

It is clear to see that this threat is one to be taken seriously for businesses. While different blogs says that there is no real threat for consumers at the moment, it is quite feasible that this could be developed into one by what is obviously a clever controller. 

What is obvious is that there is a lot more that can be achieved by this malware and a lot more that we need to learn about it in the meantime.