Stuxnet is a rather well-known malware that has been used for advanced cyber espionage by certain governments. In the past, it was found out that Iran was targeted using the malware. Now, security giant Kaspersky giant has revealed that a Russian nuclear plant’s internal network was also infected by Stuxnet.
These startling revelations were made by Eugene Kaspersky, CEO of Kaspersky and a noted cyber security expert. In a presentation at Canberra Press Club, he stated that nearly all data that is available online is at risk and being stolen by different entities.
He cited the example of Stuxnet as a cyber weapon which has been used by governments for state-sponsored cyber espionage. According to him, an unnamed staffer of a Russian nuclear plant has recently told him that the notorious Stuxnet virus infected the internal network of the facility.
He said, “[The staffer said] their nuclear plant network which was disconnected from the internet … was badly infected by Stuxnet. So unfortunately these people who were responsible for offensive technologies, they recognise cyber weapons as an opportunity.”
He further lamented the state of cyber security today and said that all online data is stolen at least twice. Interestingly, although Eugene Kaspersky hails from Russia, he was quite outspoken in citing that Russian-coded malware was one of the most sophisticated pieces of malicious software. At the same time, nearly half of all malware is in Chinese, which shows that Chinese hackers are very actively engaged in an ongoing cyber warfare.
Source: SC Magazine
Courtesy: The Hacker News
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