ABSTRACT
Stuxnet is a malicious computer worm believed to be a jointly built American–Israeli cyber weapon. Although neither state has confirmed this openly, anonymous US officials speaking to the Washington Post claimed the worm was developed during the Obama administration to sabotage Iran's nuclear program with what would seem like a long series of unfortunate accidents. Stuxnet specifically targets programmable logic controllers (PLCs), which allow the automation of electromechanical processes such as those used to control machinery on factory assembly lines, amusement rides, or centrifuges for separating nuclear materials. Experts believe that Stuxnet required the largest and costliest development effort in malware history. Stuxnet is typically introduced to the target environment via an infected USB flash drive. Stuxnet installs malware into memory block DB890 of the PLC that monitors the Profibus messaging bus of the system.
