What does the Stuxnet virus do?

What does the Stuxnet virus do?

What did the Stuxnet worm do? Stuxnet reportedly destroyed numerous centrifuges in Iran’s Natanz uranium enrichment facility by causing them to burn themselves out. Over time, other groups modified the virus to target facilities including water treatment plants, power plants, and gas lines.

Is Stuxnet still around?

The threat of Stuxnet is still alive, thanks to the discovery of new zero-day vulnerabilities connected to an old Microsoft Windows flaw. The Stuxnet used the print spooler flaw, along with other zero-days, to spread through Iran’s nuclear facilities and physically damage uranium enrichment centrifuges.

How did the Stuxnet worm get deployed inside of Iran’s Natanz nuclear facility?

Stuxnet, a worm virus, took out thousands of centrifuges at Natanz. Though never confirmed, it is theorised a double agent used a simple flash drive to infect the Natanz computer systems, which were not connected to the Internet to specifically protect it from an outside attack.

How did Stuxnet change the world?

While Stuxnet is gone, it forever changed our world. It showed how to inflict damage by targeting cyber-physical systems. It made advanced techniques for breaching secure systems available to cybercriminals and terrorists, and opened the doors to the threat of cyberwarfare.

What happened to Stuxnet and it’s technology afterwards?

After the Natanz attack, Stuxnet faded from regular headlines within a couple of years, but it returned briefly in 2016, when a Microsoft Security Intelligence Report identified it among exploit-related malware families detected in the second half of 2015.

What zero-day exploits did Stuxnet use?

Stuxnet uses four zero-day exploits, a Windows rootkit, the first known PLC rootkit, antivirus evasion techniques, peer-to-peer updates, and stolen certificates from trusted CAs. There is evidence that Stuxnet kept evolving since its initial deployment.

How did Stuxnet get into Iran’s nuclear plant?

Some of the versions of Stuxnet are believed to have required a person to physically insert a USB into a machine in order to get access to the Iranian system. And a physical act of sabotage might be accompanied by a cyber-intrusion to black out the power or alarm systems.