VOA News Saturday, September 25th, 2010
Iranian media reports say the country’s nuclear agency is trying to combat a sophisticated computer virus that has affected industrial sites throughout the Islamic Republic and is capable of taking over power plants.
Iran’s semi-official ISNA news agency says experts from the country’s Atomic Energy Organization met this week to discuss how to remove the malicious computer code, or worm, known as Stuxnet. Iranian newspapers have reported the malware has spread throughout Iran.
Foreign media reports quoting cyber security researchers have said the Stuxnet virus, which has affected industrial computers around the world, may be part of a campaign targeting nuclear installations in Iran, particularly the country’s new Bushehr power plant.
Experts say nearly 60 percent of the computers worldwide discovered to be infected with the virus are in the Islamic republic. They describe Stuxnet as a “super weapon” that appears to be specifically designed to target installations such as power plants.
Stuxnet has alarmed U.S. defense and industry officials because it is the first known computer virus created to take over industrial control systems, rather than just steal or manipulate data. Cyber experts say they first became aware of it in June.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security says it has been running the worm on test systems to monitor its patterns since July.
In August, Iran announced the start-up of the Bushehr facility, which was built with help from Russia.
Some information in this story was provided by AP, Bloomberg and Reuters.