Roy E. Hadley, Jr. of Barnes & Thornburg LLP recently published an article, New “Stuxnet”- type Virus Discovered. What are the Security Implications for You?, in The National Law Review:

A new, highly sophisticated computer virus has been discovered.  No one has yet determined what it does but it appears to be related to the Stuxnet virus – the virus that specifically targeted Iran’s nuclear centrifuges.

Stuxnet was noteworthy because it was the first virus created for a specific purpose.  It now appears that Stuxnet will not be alone.

As these types of specifically targeted “designer” viruses become more common, businesses should ask themselves “will I be targeted next?

This from MSNBC.com:

“Security experts have discovered a highly sophisticated computer virus in Iran and other Middle East countries that they believe was deployed at least five years ago to engage in state-sponsored cyber espionage.

Evidence suggest that the virus, dubbed “Flame,” may have been built on behalf of the same nation or nations that commissioned the Stuxnet worm that attacked Iran’s nuclear program in 2010, according to Kaspersky Lab, the Russian cyber security software maker that claimed responsibility for discovering the virus.

Kaspersky researchers said on Monday they have yet to determine whether Flame had a specific mission like Stuxnet, and declined to say who they think built it.

Iran has accused the United States and Israel of deploying Stuxnet.

Cyber security experts said the discovery publicly demonstrates what experts privy to classified information have long known: that nations have been using pieces of malicious computer code as weapons to promote their security interests for several years.

“This is one of many, many campaigns that happen all the time and never make it into the public domain,” said Alexander Klimburg, a cyber security expert at the Austrian Institute for International Affairs.”

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