All the world is finger-pointing at Israel and the United States as the authors of the Iranians’ nemesis Stuxnet. I think they / we should take credit for it. The Iranian capacity for dealing with Stuxnet has been nearly non-existent. The only pretense they had at combating the rampaging worm was taken out by assassins that everyone is assuming were the Mossad… or the CIA. Majid Shahriari and Fereydoun Abbasi were attacked using a ‘limpet’ type explosive device placed on their respective vehicle windows by ‘persons unknown’ on motorcycles, detonating the devices several seconds after adhering them to the windows.
Shahriari, one of Iran’s leading nuclear scientists and the only man in Iran with any hope of unraveling the complexities of the Stuxnet worm, was killed instantly. Abbasi was wounded but survived. Recently, things have been rather tough on Iranian atomic scientists because five other noted Iranian scientists have been killed. Sorry, folks, this has Israel, the US, and most especially Mossad, written all over it.
A look back at recent history will put things into perspective. First… Israel has been penetrating Iranian and Syrian airspace for some time, testing air defenses and, obviously, getting a good look around in the process. Second… Iran was busy touting the opening of its new Bushehr reactor and preparing it to be fueled. We suddenly hear stories out of Iran of three strange unknown missiles striking the dome of the reactor. The best the Iranians come up with is that it was a defense readiness drill. Even then, Stuxnet was gaining footholds in the Iranians’ computer networks and spreading patiently… waiting.
Consider this. Stuxnet will be there waiting for the Iranians when they get up this morning… and every morning. It’s quiet, it’s patient and it’s rapacious. In short, it’s perfect. Estimates are that Iran’s nuclear ambitions are taking about a two year hiatus. Stuxnet is a very sophisticated, complex and efficient creation, almost guaranteeing its authorship by a state, as opposed to groups of anarchistically-bent hackers such as those associated with WikiLeaks or other left wing hacker groups.
Don’t expect this latest assault against the Iranian threat to be the last, or nearly so. Remember… Israel is going to do what you’d least expect it to do, when you least expect it to do it.
Semper Vigilans, Semper Fidelis
© Skip MacLure 2010
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