More cyber-warfare

Stuxnet gets upgraded.
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Is ‘SON of STUXNET’ gearing up for another major cyberattack on Iran?

Posted: October 20, 2011 | Author: barenakedislam

Most often attributed to Israel and sometimes to the U.S. as well, if the STUXNET virus was the atom bomb of cyberwarfare, then the discovery this week of the ‘DUQU’ virus is the hydrogen bomb, security experts are warning.  It is the second major weaponized virus to turn computers into lethal weapons with devastating destructive power.

(If you check the links at the end, you will note that Stuxnet was built to be virtually immortal, infecting its targets with a worm that destroys computerized systems covertly, and has the ability to lie dormant for months or years until it re-activates itself automatically to stage another attack. With the discovery of the existence of  Stuxnet 2 called Duqu, it is likely that Stuxnet is getting ready for another cyber attack, having re-generated itself into a new format)

FOX NEWS  The new program, discovered by Symantec on Tuesday with the help of an unnamed research lab, uses much of the same code as the 2010 Stuxnet virus did. But instead of destroying the systems it infects, Duqu secretly penetrates them and, according to some experts, creates “back door” vulnerabilities that can be exploited to destroy the networks at any time its creators may choose.
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I doubt Stuxnet has "re-generated itself". Code cannot re-write itself. Not even suspected Israeli super-viruses.

Contrary to some people's ideas, computer code and viruses are not living things, and do not "mutate" on their own. It takes a programmer (God, to computer programs) to change them to add capabilities or change the way they work.Natural selection does not enter the picture. There's no Darwin for code, other than the free market.

Yes, there is "self-modifying code" out there - it's generally thought of as a bad idea by good programmers, as the self-modifications sometimes end up doing bad things. Those bad things manifest themselves as bugs or program crashes - not cunning changes of function.

If a virus can be detected, it can be eliminated from the system. The process of cleaning might be very difficult, but it is possible. Damage to systems can only occur if the virus is allowed to execute.