STUXNET

Gone are the days when computer viruses only infected important files. But, 21st century has a more advanced level of technology. Stuxnet, a malicious computer worm, a weapon which had the potential to bring a modern society to its knees came into limelight in June 2010. A team of more than 6000 IT professionals tried to crack the code, but decoding was near to impossible. Reason being, it did not run anywhere, rather it used memory as a place to store and execute itself. Finally a talented and able team of mechanical engineers, software engineers and hardware engineers took more than 6 months to crack it. Unfortunately, no one was aware of the fact that it was a cyber-warfare. It was after 8-10 months, Symantec, an American software company headquartered in Mountain View, California, United States realized that it was the first digital weapon designed and released specifically to attack the Bushehr nuclear power plant in Iran.

Why Iran was targeted was the question that needed a satisfactory reply. When the reason was unveiled, it was surprising for all. Iran was pursuing its nuclear program without keeping USA in confidence. No nation could find a way out to cease it.

Then the world’s most extreme & powerful digital weapon came into existence which broke down 200000 computers in Iran within a month. The mission was carried forward so secretly that it controlled and destroyed the speed of centrifuges (used for enrichment of uranium) making scientists believe that everything was OK and under control. But it was just to befool them which resulted in the crash of the nuclear program of Iran. 

FACTS ABOUT STUXNET 

1. It took a team of 1000 professionals to work continuously for more than 3 months to code Stuxnet

    It contained more than 15000 lines of code

2. It comprised of many viruses.

3. It was nearly impossible to decode Stuxnet.

4. It had a size of 500Kb which is almost the size of a ringtone.

5. It pushed back Iran’s nuclear program for 2 years and created havoc in the world. If Stuxnet was not founded and terminated on time then it would have exploded gas pipe lines, dams, water flow and electricity power grids.

PRAVEEN KR SHARMA

MAPSIAN

THE MANN SCHOOL