A New World, Winning a War without Weapons

A few weeks ago, I was stunned that Israel would allow the Iranian reactor in Bushehr to begin loading.  However, today’s report in the UK Guardian helps explain why Israel has not yet struck the nuclear plant.

Click to read the entire UK Guardian article.

These are a few excerpts within the UK Guardian piece.

Experts at Iran’s nuclear agency are trying to disable a complex computer virus that has attacked the country’s industrial sites and appears to be aimed at shutting down its Bushehr nuclear plant, which was due to go online next month.

Computer security experts who have studied Stuxnet since it emerged two months ago believe it was designed specifically to attack the Siemens-designed working system of the Bushehr plant and appears to have infected the system via the laptops and USB drives of Russian technicians who had been working there.

Western experts say the worm’s sophistication – and the fact that some 60% of computers infected appeared to be in Iran – pointed to a government-backed attack.

While there have been no reports of damage or disruption at any Iranian nuclear facilities, last Tuesday’s meeting signalled a high level of concern about the worm among Iran’s nuclear officials. The Stuxnet worm has surprised experts because it is the first one created to take over industrial control systems, rather than just steal or manipulate data.

If Israel is behind the worm, then it helps explain why Israel is waiting to take military action. Israel hopes that the Iranian nuclear program can be stopped without having to go to war.

Until next time…