Codebreaker

Friends of Stuxnet

Marc Sanchez Dec 29, 2011

Security research firm, Kaspersky Lab, released a report yesterday asserting that the Stuxnet virus, which infected Iranian nuclear facilities and is widely believed to have been hatched by the U.S. and Israel, has been kicking around since 2007. According to researchers at Kaspersky, the platform that Stuxnet is built on has been found in four other pieces of malicious code. One such piece of code is Duqu, which we’ve been talking about, is a kind of scout that snoops around networks looking for security flaws to exploit. Reuters spoke to Kaspersky’s director of research and analysis, Costin Raiu, and reports,

The platform is comprised of a group of compatible software modules designed to fit together, each with different functions. Its developers can build new cyber weapons by simply adding and removing modules.

“It’s like a Lego set. You can assemble the components into anything: a robot or a house or a tank,” [Raiu] said.

Kaspersky named the platform “Tilded” because many of the files in Duqu and Stuxnet have names beginning with the tilde symbol “~” and the letter “d.”

Ladies and gentlemen, may I present The Tilded Age.
 

There’s a lot happening in the world.  Through it all, Marketplace is here for you. 

You rely on Marketplace to break down the world’s events and tell you how it affects you in a fact-based, approachable way. We rely on your financial support to keep making that possible. 

Your donation today powers the independent journalism that you rely on. For just $5/month, you can help sustain Marketplace so we can keep reporting on the things that matter to you.