Stuxnet spyware targets industrial facilities, via USB memory stick

Source: Mark Clayton, Christian Science Monitor.

Cyberspies have launched the first publicly known global attack aimed at infiltrating hard-to-penetrate computer control systems used to manage factory robots, refineries, and the electric power grid.

The ultrasophisticated attack was discovered last week, but information about it – including the full range of capabilities of the espionage software – continues to emerge. The spyware had spread for at least a month undetected and has already penetrated thousands of industrial computer systems in Iran, Indonesia, India, Ecuador, the United States, Pakistan, and Taiwan, according to a Microsoft analysis.

The attack is part of a sophisticated new wave of industrial cyberespionage that can infiltrate corporate systems undetected and capture the “crown jewels” of corporations – proprietary manufacturing techniques that are worth billions, experts say. It’s significant, too, because of its potential to infiltrate and commandeer important infrastructure, such as the power grid.