Mideast Mystery: Did Israel Cyber Attack Target Iran Nuke Program?

In July, the Stuxnet worm began infecting industrial control system companies around the world - especially in Iran. The program targeted PCs running Siemens Simatic WinCC software used in industrial control systems.

Another example of mischievous hackers strutting their stuff or the first shot in an undeclared cyber-war between Israel and Iran?

The New York Times is reporting the existence of a tantalizing clue which may suggest Israeli involvement: the use of a word with Biblical allusions to name one of the files inside the code. The name in question - Myrtus - could refer to the Book of Esther, which recounts how the Jews of Persia successfully prevented an anti-Semitic court official from carrying out his plans to murder them.

Since we're talking about the hush-hush world of national security, don't count on the Israelis to step up and take a bow. In fact, as the Times piece notes, Myrtus could "simply signify myrtle, a plant important to many cultures in the region." Then again, it may have been a calling card left to send a message. (On his website, German security expert Ralph Langner has more about Stuxnet, which he refers to as the "hack of the century.")

The Israelis are especially concerned about Iran's nuclear plans and fear the intentions of the country's holocaust-denying leadership. While the U.S. has so far urged Israel not to unleash an air strike against Iran's nuclear big enrichment plant at Natanz - a la the 1981 destruction of Iraq's Osirik nuclear facility - there's been no public mention about a cyber attack.The Israel Defense Force operates a renowned computer unit and security experts believe it has the capacity to have been behind Stuxnet. =>

Stuxnet is able to exploit a back door and can let attackers remotely do a number of things - extending to interference with a plant's critical operations. That has led some security experts to posit that the Stuxnet worm was designed to sabotage Iran's nuclear program. The computer worm targets computers running Siemens software used in industrial control systems. Coincidentally or not, officials in Dubai last year took control of a shipment of Siemens computer controllers earmarked for Iran following tips from Western intelligence agencies that the equipment was going to be used in its nuclear program.

Then again, everyone may be getting themselves worked up over nothing. It's still unclear how the worm might have affected the equipment at Natanz. And as the Times correctly notes, India, Indonesia and Russia got hit by the worm before it made its way to Iran.

Then again, that might have been the intention all along.