German computer security expert releases new study claiming the Stuxnet worm, which some claim slowed down activity in the Iranian sites, was designed to act as a 'digital warhead.'
Nov. 20, 2010 (Haaretz) -- The Stuxnet computer worm which hit computers at Iran's Bushehr nuclear power plant, and which experts have estimated slowed down activity both there and in the Natanz uranium-enrichment site, were designed to act as a double "digital warhead" against the Iranian nuclear sites, a new survey said Friday.
In September, experts on Iran and computer security specialists voiced a growing conviction that the worm that has infected Iranian nuclear computers was meant to sabotage the uranium enrichment facility at Natanz -- where the centrifuge operational capacity has halved over the past year.
That analysis, based on the characteristic behavior of the Stuxnet worm, contradicted earlier assessments that the target was the nuclear reactor at Bushehr, where officials admitted computers were infected by the virus.
On Saturday, a report by German security expert Ralph Langner claimed that the computer worm was designed as a "digital warheads" against Natanz's centrifuge operational system and the turbines in Bushehr.
