Communications of the ACM
World's First 'cyber Superweapon' Attacks China
A computer virus dubbed the world's "first cyber superweapon" by experts and which may have been designed to attack Iran's nuclear facilities has found a new target—China. The Stuxnet worm has infected millions of computers around the country, China media reported this week.
Stuxnet can break into computers that control machinery at the heart of industry. It could, technically, make factory boilers explode, destroy gas pipelines or even cause a nuclear plant to malfunction. The virus targets control systems made by German industrial giant Siemens commonly used to manage water supplies, oil rigs, power plants and other industrial facilities.
"This malware is specially designed to sabotage plants and damage industrial systems. Once Stuxnet successfully penetrates factory computers in China, those industries may collapse, which would damage China's national security," an engineer surnamed Wang at antivirus service provider Rising told the Global Times.
From The Economic Times
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