TECH

Going nuclear

Database, Published on 29/09/2010

» Researcher Ralph Langner of Germany concluded that the highly troublesome, infective Stuxnet worm was the world's first malicious software designed specifically to destroy physical property, such as a factory or, well, a nuclear power plant; Mr Langner took apart the worm and discovered code that indicated it was targeting the Bashehr nuclear power plant in Iran; the worm is incredibly sophisticated and takes action without any user interaction; Stuxnet is not a criminal shakedown, said Mr Langner, and "not about espionage. This is a 100 percent sabotage attack."