Was Stuxnet Involved With Fukushima Nuke Reactor Failures?
New cybervirus found in Japan / Stuxnet designed to attack off-line servers via USB memory sticks
Stuxnet, a computer virus designed to attack servers isolated from the Internet, such as at power plants, has been confirmed on 63 personal computers in Japan since July, according to major security firm Symantec Corp.
The virus does not cause any damage online, but once it enters an industrial system, it can send a certain program out of control.
Symantec says the virus reaches the servers via USB memory sticks, and warns against the careless use of such devices.
Systems at power plants, gas stations and water facilities are not connected to the Internet to protect them from cyber-attacks.
A Symantec engineer who has analyzed the virus said it was made using advanced technology, and it is highly likely a well-funded organization, not an individual, produced it. The virus has spread throughout the globe via the Internet.
After Stuxnet finds its way onto an ordinary computer via the Internet, it hides there, waiting for a USB memory stick to be connected to the computer, when it transfers itself to the memory stick. When the USB device is then connected to a computer linked to an isolated server, it can enter the system and take control of it.
As computers that harbor Stuxnet do not operate strangely, the virus can be transferred to a memory stick inadvertently.
According to the security company, the virus is designed to target a German-made program often used in systems managing water, gas and oil pipelines. The program is used at public utilities around the world, including in Japan.
The virus could cause such systems to act erratically, and it could take months to restore them to normal.
The 63 infected computers found in Japan were likely infected sometime after June.
According to the company, about 60 percent of the computers that have been infected with the virus were discovered in Iran. Since September, about 30,000 computers there have been found to be infected with the virus. The country's Industry and Mines Ministry has called the virus an electronic act of war.
Some computers at the Iranian Bushehr nuclear power plant, which is scheduled to begin operation in October, have been infected with the virus.
The Yomiuri Shimbun 5 October 2010
Israeli firm which secured Japan nuclear plant says workers there 'putting their lives on the line'
The CEO of the Israeli company that installed the security system at Japan's Fukushima nuclear power plant said Thursday that those workers who have elected to stay behind are "putting their lives on the line" to save Japan.
Magna BSP set up the security system about a year ago at the facility, which suffered extensive damage after the recent earthquake and tsunami, with particular concern over radiation leakage from the reactors at the site...
Magna BSP was established by Siboni about 10 years ago and is owned by several partners. Based in Dimona, the firm employs 15 people, a number which Siboni expects to expand dramatically in light of additional orders Magna has received from Japan and interest shown by the operators of nuclear reactors in other countries. Its operations in Japan are conducted through a Japanese government firm.
"We have an agreement in principle with the Japanese that we will provide protection for all of the country's nuclear reactors," Siboni said.
Magna had planned to send additional security equipment to Japan next week. The Japanese have not asked that the shipment be halted, Siboni said, adding: "They are projecting business as usual."
read more Haaretz.com 18 March 2011
Japan's Nuclear Crisis, Stuxnet and SCADA Defenses
The devastation in Japan caused by the recent earthquake and tsunami is truly heart wrenching, especially when one considers how millions of lives can be turned upside down in the matter of a few minutes.
In no way is this article intended to draw any attention away from the plight of the people now suffering in the earthquake's aftermath, as our concerns should be for them first and foremost.
With that caveat aside, I believe we can use the events that are unfolding in Japan as a learning opportunity regarding the possible consequences of a sophisticated Stuxnet-type attack against SCADA networks at a nuclear facility.
Stuxnet is a highly sophisticated designer-virus that wreaks havoc with SCADA systems which provide operational control for critical infrastructure and production networks, such as those used to operate a nuclear power plant.
Stuxnet-type viruses are uniquely dangerous because they are capable not only of affecting network computer systems, they can also cause actual physical damage to the equipment the networks control.
Specifically, Stuxnet damaged equipment at Iran's Natanz uranium enrichment facility, which reportedly set back the nation's nuclear program several years.
From what I understand of the current crisis in Japan, the problems at the nuclear facilities did not stem from the reactors themselves sustaining significant damaged in the earthquake.
Instead, the problem with the reactor cores over-heating was caused by a disruption to the power and water supplies that are needed for the cooling systems. The problem was compounded by the destruction of the backup generators for the cooling system pumps in the subsequent tsunami.
In the past, the majority of these systems are operated manually or by analog control systems like electro-mechanical relays, but that is changing.
A senior member of the technical staff at one of our nation's largest and most prestigious national research laboratories indicated that a significant number of the nuclear facilities in the U.S. have modernized the controls for those auxiliary systems, and are now employing Programmable Logic Controllers (PLCs).
According to the source, at least one facility specifically uses Siemens PLCs, the same type attacked by Stuxnet at Natanz in Iran.
If both the primary and redundant cooling components at that nuclear facility used PLCs and were hit with a Stuxnet-type attack that was able to cause physical damage to the equipment - we might witness events similar to those which are now playing out in Japan.
Granted, a Stuxnet-type attack would not also destroy roads and other infrastructure, or divert emergency response resources to other concerns. But, as far as the problems with cooling the reactor core, the challenges would be inherently similar.
I asked Richard Stiennon if he could provide some insight on this hypothetical scenario. Richard is the Chief Research Analyst and founder of IT-Harvest, an independent analyst firm that focuses on IT and network security....Stiennon confirms that a Stuxnet-type attack could theoretically cause reactor core cooling systems to be disrupted:
"Stuxnet targeted high speed rotating machinery controls, most probably the Uranium enrichment centrifuges in Iran. Both electricity generators and water pumps are examples of rotating machinery that are also controlled in industrial systems by PLCs (Programmable Logic Controllers). Communications with industrial control systems, often via SCADA, can be a vector for attack, or as in the case of Stuxnet, malware can be introduced directly by a bad actor. It is not hard to extrapolate that designer-malware could target these systems with the intent to shut them down and cause at the very least the emergency shut down of a nuclear power plant, at the worst, release of a radioactive plume and the permanent disabling of the reactor - as has happened in Japan," Stiennon replied via email.
Numerous experts have speculated that a major cyber attack on critical infrastructure would most likely not occur in isolation, but in conjunction with a conventional kinetic attack, which would present a situation even more similar to what we are witnessing in the aftermath the natural disaster that occurred in Japan.
But if a non-kinetic Stuxnet-like attack could in effect produce serious kinetic damage on the magnitude of disabling of a nuclear facility, or worse, the discharge of radioactive material and the potential for a core meltdown, the notion that such an attack would only occur in conjunction with a traditional military offensive seems to be less likely.
Recently, the International Society of Automation announced the formation of a task group to conduct a gap analysis on the ANSI standards governing SCADA security to evaluate how well organizations following the ISA99 standard would have responded to a Stuxnet-type attack.
While the ISA study will focus on network responses, perhaps other regulatory entities should begin to study what a successful post-Stuxnet attack environment could actually look like.
Evaluation of the challenges Japan is currently facing could provide valuable insight in the event there is ever a successful attack on SCADA systems controlling auxiliary systems at a nuclear facility.
"The one lesson to draw from the unfolding crisis is that risk planners have to expand worst case scenarios. While most nuclear power plants are not on faults (with the notable exception of Diablo Canyon in California) they are all subject to mechanical failures induced by malware introduced to their networks. Redundancy and fail safe measures cannot rely on power, computers, or networks. This applies to nuclear power plants as well as data centers, electrical grids, and communication systems," Stiennon concludes.
source infosecisland.com 21 March 2011
Report: Israel tested Iran-bound Stuxnet worm in Dimona nuclear plant
Israel has tested a computer worm believed to have sabotaged Iran's nuclear centrifuges and slowed its ability to develop an atomic weapon, The New York Times reported on Saturday.
In what the Times described as a joint Israeli-U.S. effort to undermine Iran's nuclear ambitions, it said the tests of the destructive Stuxnet worm had occurred over the past two years at the heavily guarded Dimona complex in the Negev desert.
The newspaper cited unidentified intelligence and military experts familiar with Dimona who said Israel had spun centrifuges virtually identical to those at Iran's Natanz facility, where Iranian scientists are struggling to enrich uranium.
"To check out the worm, you have to know the machines," an American expert on nuclear intelligence told the newspaper". The reason the worm has been effective is that the Israelis
tried it out."
Western leaders suspect Iran's nuclear program is a cover to build atomic weapons, but Tehran says it is aimed only at producing electricity.
Iran's centrifuges have been plagued by breakdowns since a rapid expansion of enrichment in 2007 and 2008, and security experts have speculated its nuclear program may have been targeted in a state-backed attack using Stuxnet.
In November, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said that malicious software had created "problems" in some of Iran's uranium enrichment centrifuges, although he said the problems had been resolved.
The Times said the worm was the most sophisticated cyber-weapon ever deployed and appeared to have been the biggest factor in setting back Iran's nuclear march. Its sources said it caused the centrifuges to spin wildly out of control and that a fifth of them had been wiped out.
It added it was not clear the attacks were over and that some experts believed the Stuxnet code contained the seeds for more versions and assaults.
The retiring chief of Israel's Mossad intelligence agency, Meir Dagan, said recently that Iran's nuclear program had been set back and that Tehran would not be able to build an atomic bomb until at least 2015. U.S. officials, including Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, have not disputed Dagan's view.
Neither Clinton nor Dagan mentioned Stuxnet or any other cyber-warfare possibly used against the Iranian program.
Israel has voiced alarm over a nuclear Iran and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said only the threat of military action will prevent Iran from building a nuclear bomb.
Israel itself is widely believed to have built more than 200 atomic warheads at its Dimona reactor but it maintains an official policy of "ambiguity" over whether it is a nuclear power.
Any delays in Iran's enrichment campaign could buy more time for efforts to find a diplomatic solution to its stand-off with six world powers over the nature of its nuclear
activities.
U.S. and Israeli officials refused to comment officially on the worm, the newspaper said.
source Reuters 16 January 2011
Israel Makes Waves by Simulating an Earthquake
The Seismologic Division of the Ministry of National Infrastructure's Geophysical Institute will attempt to simulate an earthquake in the southern Negev on Thursday. The experiment, financed by the U.S. Defense Department, is a joint project with the University of Hawaii and is part of a scientific project intended to improve seismological and acoustic readings in Israel and its environs, up to a 1,000 km/621 mile radius.
The experiment intends to improve the understanding of sound waves in the atmosphere. Scientists will then be able to fine-tune Israel’s seismological equipment to give advance warning of earthquakes. Measurements will also be taken in other countries, including Cyprus, Greece, France, and Germany.
Israel will create a controlled explosion of 80 tons of explosive material, which will simulate the intensity of a tremor after an earthquake of Magnitude 3. Natural earthquakes of a similar intensity occur in the Middle East region about once a week, without the public feeling them.
Source U.S. Geological Survey Published: 08/25/09
HAARP Magnetometer data shows Japan earthquake was induced
The United States Air Force and Navy has provided a visual insight into what caused the 9.0 magnitude off of Japan on March 11, 2011 at 05:46:23 UTC. The image above was downloaded from the High Frequency Active Auroral Research Program (HAARP) website. It is a time-frequency spectrogram, which shows the frequency content of signals recorded by the HAARP Induction Magnetometer. This instrument, provided by the University of Tokyo, measures temporal variations in the geomagnetic field (Earth’s magnetosphere) in the ULF (ultra-low frequency) range of 0-5 Hz. Notions have been added to the image to show you what was happening the day the Japan earthquake and tsunami struck. read more
Scalar Weather Modification and Energy Weapons
SCALAR WEAPONS: Read it and weep
Weather Modification, Artificial Earthquake Technology and HAARP
Sky changed colors before 2008 earthquake in China
Before Chile earthquake, sky changes color. HAARP?
Chile Earthquake Report - HAARP fingerprints all over it?
HAARP wave clouds over Japan skies
Twelve things you should know about scalar weapons
Japan aftershocks greater than 5.0 from March 11-25
Israeli firm’s cameras recording Japanese nuclear core
Israelis celebrating while recording 911 World Trade Center attack
Israel Did 9/11 ALL THE PROOF IN THE WORLD
Some events linked to the number eleven:
11 November 1918 - on the 11th hour, World War I ended (11/11/18)
11 September 1941 - the construction of the Pentagon began.
11 September 1973 - The CIA put Pinochet into power in Chile.
11 September 1990 - Bush gave his State of the Union Address about the New World Order.
11 September 2001 - The World Trade Centre attacks took place.
11 March 2004 - The Madrid terror attacks.
11 February 2011 - Mubarak stepped down.
11 march 2011 - The Earthquake and tsunami hit Japan
THE 3/11 EXPOSE WAS RESEARCHED BY YOUTUBE USER ImatvapI on his 'MatrixVaporizer' channel
Pan, thanks for the wealth of links. Sure you're not peddling "Classic Anti-Semitism"?
I posted Mark Glenn's discussion of this which is well worth a listen.
TFC has this video which is predicting Japan going into the sea (northern Honshu from Tokyo up - Cayce predicted same) and an inland sea in the US created by flooding the New Madrid fault with Gulf oil.