Stuxnet is a complex piece of software discovered by a Belarusian security company, VirusBlokAda, in June 2009. Since September 2010, over 100,000 hosts were infected. Iran has been hit the most, with almost 60% of all infections.

Due to its sophisticated nature the worm is capable of infecting removable media such as USB pen-drives and spreads through the network and bypasses security protection. It is considered to be the world’s most advanced Malware. According to Microsoft, the worm was created to target Industrial Control Systems (ICS) including oil, gas and power industries.

Stuxnet works by re-programming ICS’s; it seeks Siemens management system and infects them. This allows the hacker to modify the functions of Control Systems, upload information to the Internet and possibly specify how they should operate. Something like this could cause a huge impact and big financial losses.

Industrial Control Systems are usually programmed by Windows machines and in most cases they are not connected to the Internet or any type of network in order to reduce the chance of infections. This means that the worm is inflicted internally by using a portable device such as USB pen-drive.  In order to inflict Stuxnet
Malware, the attacker must have a good knowledge of the system.

Stuxnet - World’s Most Advanced MalwareThe pie chart above represents the percentage of geographical infection distribution. Detailed stats have been published by Symantec.

Protect your computer from malicious software. Perform frequent updates and Malware scans.

Article by Dimitri Hrusha – VikingPC IT Director at VikingPC – The power of 5 anti-virus software in 1 Dynamite Package.