‘Earlier version of Stuxnet could have done much more damage’

The first known version of Stuxnet, discovered by Symantec only early this year, could have done much more damage than later variants. It is unclear why this option was not used at the time.

The earlier version of Stuxnet targeted according to researcher Ralph Langner on other systems at the Iranian nuclear facility at Natanz, which was attacked with the Stuxnet virus. Both versions targeted Siemens controllers, but the earlier version infected the controllers that controlled the pressure gauges of the uranium enrichment gas centrifuges. By manipulating that pressure, massive damage could have been done to the nuclear facility, Langner argues.

This was not chosen, probably because the infection would then be noticed. Now the attack went unnoticed for years: the first version of Stuxnet is said to date back to 2005. Instead, the pressure was only slightly increased, causing the rotor blades to break sooner. A later version manipulated centrifuges. Earlier it appeared that there were similarities between Flame, another virus used to attack Iranian nuclear facilities, and an earlier version of Stuxnet.

Although the United States has never admitted it, it is widely believed that that country is behind the virus attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities. This was reported by The New York Times, among others. The attack came to light when the virus spread unplanned outside of Iranian installations.