Stuxnet looks for industrial control systems and then changes the code in them to allow the attackers to take control of these systems without the operators knowing. In other words, this threat is designed to allow hackers to manipulate real-world equipment, which makes it very dangerous.
It’s like nothing we’ve seen before – both in what it does, and how it came to exist. It is the first computer virus to be able to wreak havoc in the physical world. It is sophisticated, well-funded, and there are not many groups that could pull this kind of threat off. It is also the first cyberattack we’ve seen specifically targeting industrial control systems.
The worm is made up of complex computer code that requires lots of different skills to put it together. Symantec security experts estimate it took five to ten people to work on this project for six months. In addition, knowledge of industrial control systems was needed along with access to such systems to do quality assurance testing; again indicating that this was a highly organized and well-funded project.
"We've definitely never seen anything like this before," said Liam O’Murchu, Researcher, Symantec Security Response. "The fact that it can control the way physical machines work is quite disturbing."
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