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Book links US to cyber-attacks on Iran

New York Times reports US, EU and Israel working together to increase number of sophisticated malware attacks against Islamic Republic's nuclear facilities' computer systems

A new book slated to be released in the United States next week, links Washington to the string of malware attacks plaguing Iran's computers in the past three years.

 

The New York Times reported Friday that according to the book, US President Obama "secretly ordered increasingly sophisticated attacks on the computer systems that run Iran’s main nuclear enrichment facilities."

 

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The report links the United States to the 2010 Stuxnet virus attack on Tehran's computer systems, adding that Israeli cyber experts were part of the cyber-bomb's development team.

 

Prior to this week's Flame attack, the Stuxnet virus was considered the most powerful cyber weapon to hit Iran.

 

The book is said to be based on interviews with current and former American, European and Israeli officials involved in the efforts to cripple Iran's computer systems.

 

  • For more on the raging cyber war click here

 

The officials interviewed in the book gave various assessments of how successful the sabotage really was in slowing the Islamic Republic's nuclear progress. US officials believe recent cyber-attacks have set the Iranians back 18-24 months, both others are skeptical.

 

Iran initially denied that its enrichment facilities had been hit by Stuxnet, then said it had found the worm and contained it. Tehran issued similar statements following the Flame attack, but later admitted "large amounts of data have been corrupted and lost."

 

According to the report, Washington has only recently acknowledged developing cyber-weapons – and has never admitted using them.

 

The book further says that the National Security Agency enlisted the help of Israel's Unit 8200 – the IDF's elite intelligence unit to develop "enormously complex computer worms."

 

While American cyber-attacks are not limited to Iran, the book says Washington has made the Islamic Republic's nuclear facilities its primary focus.

 

 

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פרסום ראשון: 06.01.12, 11:39
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