Why is the Stuxnet event considered to be historic?

Cyberattacks against major U.S. firms and government agencies have demonstrated the difficulty of keeping domestic systems secure. These same techniques can be used in cyberwar, where one nation attacks another by dealing decisive blows against its infrastructure. Stuxnet was one of a family of software viruses launched by the United States and Israel in 2010 against Iranian nuclear centrifuges and other industrial facilities that are used to concentrate nuclear fuel to nuclear bomb-grade quality. The Stuxnet event in 2010 was arguably the first documented instance of one nation attacking another using computer software. In 2011 and 2012, Stuxnet became a powerful symbol of a newly emerging weapon and style of war.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JSWPoeBLFyQ (Links to an external site.)https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kw–zLJT3ak (Links to an external site.)The list of cyberattacks against business firms and government agencies keeps growing: DDoS attacks, Trojans, phishing, ransomware, data theft, identity theft, credit card fraud, and spyware. Less well known is that nations are planning to use these same techniques to bring down the infrastructure of their real and perceived enemies. All advanced societies rely on the Internet to operate water systems, electrical grids, train and airplane control systems, logistics systems, medical, and financial systems. The growth of the Internet of Things (IoT) greatly expands the reach of the Internet to automobiles, appliances, aircraft, and shipping. If these systems could be made inoperable, even for a short time, societies and economies would collapse in a matter of weeks. Civilian casualties would quickly mount, civilian government would be crippled, and military systems made ineffective or inoperable. Ironically, even relatively small countries can present these kinds of threats to much larger and more powerful countries. The Stuxnet worm is a high-visibility example of the use of malware (viruses) to disrupt an industrial process in an advanced country. It is an example of cyberwarfare because it was launched by one nation against another nation with the intent of causing harm to the civilian and military capabilities of the target nation.First discovered in June 2010, Stuxnet was designed to disable the computers that control the centrifuges in Iran’s uranium enrichment process. Many commentators believe Stuxnet was created by a joint United States–Israel operation code-named Olympic Games. Iran has reported the virus caused Siemens’ industrial centrifuges to spin out of control and eventually destroy themselves. The virus works by infecting industrial control devices called “programmable logic controllers,” or PLCs, in this case also made by Siemens. PLCs are used through the industrial and developing world as a basic machine control unit that usually is attached to, or close by, a computer control machine tool, such as a lathe, cutting tool, robot, or centrifuge. The PLC contains software that connects it to the factory’s network (or Internet), which in turn allows managers in offices to control and monitor machine operations. In another strike against Iran in April 2012, malware wiped computers in the Iranian Oil Ministry and the National Iranian Oil Company clean. Initial reports identified the malware as a Trojan dubbed Flame. Flame was suspected of pursuing multiple Iranian objectives including key oil export hubs. Iran’s National Computer Emergency Response Team released a tool to detect and destroy Flame in early May.OPTIONAL – Stuxnet 60 min (full version)https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zEjUlbmD9kQ (Links to an external site.)***Answer the below on a word document and post to the assignment***1. What are the three classes of cyberattacks and their effects, according to the Zertag video?2. What are the five differences between cyberwarfare and traditional warefare?3. Why is the Stuxnet event considered to be historic?4. What is a danger that the creators of Stuxnet have created for other industrial counties,including the United States? What is the greatest fear created by Stuxnet?5. Why are people (agents) needed “on the ground” in order for the Stuxnert virus to work?

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