Senior security experts have told Sky News that the virus could be used as a
“devastating tool” by cyber criminals and fraudsters.
“We have hard evidence that the virus is in the hands of bad guys,” one
anonymous source told Sky News. “We can’t say any more than that, but these
people are highly motivated and highly skilled with a lot of money behind
them.”
Security experts fear that the worm could be used to shut down the 999
emergency system, disrupt hospital systems and equipment, or cause problems
with transport networks, banking systems or power plants.
“They could shut down power systems, dams, almost any sophisticated industrial
process that requires a control software,” Stewart Baker, a former adviser
to the US Department of Homeland Security, told Sky. “That’s practically
everything.”
The complexity of the Stuxnet worm has lead some experts to speculate that it
could be an act of cyber terrorism, a virus written and sanctioned by one
country with the aim of impacting the infrastructure of another. It is
believed to be the first computer virus aimed at causing physical changes in
the real world.
Stuxnet can be used to reprogram software to force a computer to carry out
different commands. It can be transferred between machines by USB memory
stick, which means that even computers that are not connected to the
internet for security reasons are still susceptible to it.
The worm is based on complex code that combines several known ‘hacking’
techniques to make it quicker to spread and more difficult to eradicate. It
also exploits known vulnerabilities in Windows operating systems that are
not running the most recent security updates.
However, some security specialists have cautioned that overemphasising the
threat posed by Stuxnet could distract people from current instances of
cyber crime.
“We don’t need more speculation about Stuxnet when we already face a
determined and extensive enemy in the form of cyber criminals,” said Paul
Ducklin, head of technology at security firm Sophos. “They are routinely
stealing our credentials, plundering our bank accounts, raiding our
retirement funds and subverting our payment systems.
“Let’s stop being frightened of shadows and actually concentrate on getting
rid of the cyber enemy already in our midst.”
Article source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/internet/8159442/Stuxnet-computer-virus-in-hands-of-criminal-gangs.html
Category: Cyber Crime
Article source: http://nationalcybersecurity.com/?p=41186