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  • “There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man; true nobility is being superior to your former self.” Ernest Hemmingway
  • “Judge each day not by the harvest you reap, but by the seeds you plant.” Robert Louis Stevenson
  • “We must be the change we wish to see in the world.” Gandhi
  • “Noble deeds that are concealed are most esteemed.” Blaise Pascal
  • “A creative man is motivated by the desire to achieve, not by the desire to beat others.” Ayn Rand
  • “If you want to succeed you should strike out on new paths, rather than travel the worn paths of accepted success.” John D. Rockefeller
  • “Honesty is the first chapter in the book of wisdom.” Thomas Jefferson
  • “Sense shines with a double luster when it is set in humility. An able yet humble man is a jewel worth a kingdom.” William Penn
  • “There is a great satisfaction in building good tools for other people to use.” Freeman Dyson
  • “You don't know what you can learn until you try to learn.” Ronald Coase
  • “Let us so live that when we come to die even the undertaker will be sorry.” Mark Twain
  • “Create more value than you capture.” Tim O'Reilly

Stuxnet: Sophisticated Precision Cyber-Warfare

The New York Times has an interesting article discussing many details surrounding the cyber-worm known as “Stuxnet” and how it was unleashed against the Iranian nuclear program. There have been several articles written on the subject, but this one provides some connections and data points which read more like a movie plot than day-to-day geopolitics. In this case credit/blame is attributed to a joint Israeli-American project.

The biggest single factor in putting time on the nuclear clock appears to be Stuxnet, the most sophisticated cyberweapon ever deployed.”

The article describes the precision with which the attacks unfolded and what were the likely steps taken to prepare for that precision.

As infrastructure and services become more and more dependent upon network interaction it’s pretty easy to imagine how vulnerable these systems become as technology extends other efficiencies of operation. These situations underscore the importance of security as an integral part of system design rather than political rhetoric or as an afterthought which seems all too common in government.end of article icon

Posted on Tuesday, January 18, 2011 in Technology • Politics •

Comments

1. Posted by Dale Allyn on January 21, 2011

Tom Ashbrook, host of On Point Radio, interviews co-author of the on the New York Times piece, John Markoff, as well as security expert, Bruce Schneier et al here. Interesting stuff.  Tom does a good job, as usual.

Here are the guests in this piece:

John Markoff, senior correspondent covering science and technology for the New York Times. Co-author of the new article, “Israeli Test on Worm Called Crucial in Iran Nuclear Delay.”

James Lewis, senior fellow and director of the technology and public policy program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

Bruce Schneier, author and expert on security and technology.  Author of “Schneier on Security.”

Eric Chien, researcher at the computer security company Symantec who has been studying the Stuxnet worm.

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