Finder of Flame Virus Tells Israel to Stop Before It’s Too Late

[lanlady]

Source: Time

Eugene Kaspersky, the Russian cybersleuth who last week revealed the most sophisticated virus yet targeting Iran, was greeted as a hero at the Tel Aviv University conference on digital security on Wednesday. He didn’t pretend not to know why, any more than the Israeli audience that played along with the coy remarks its officials have made about the country’s role in the digital espionage bedeviling the Iranian program.

“Maybe there are some people here who are not happy with work I was doing with Stuxnet and Flame,” he told an audience of more than 1,000 at the university’s annual International Conference on Cyber Security. (Stuxnet was the previous virus that hit Iran, targeting its nuclear program; Flame hit the petroleum industry.) Then the keynote speaker, clad in jeans and an untucked linen shirt, leaned forward and said in a stage whisper, “I’m really sorry.” Waves of laughter and applause followed. “It’s not personal,” Kaspersky went on, drawing out the laughter, which had a quality of mutual congratulation. “It’s my job … So next time, be more careful.”

But when the room quieted down, the guru got serious. Cyberweapons, Kaspersky advised, “are a very, very bad idea.” Whatever advanced knowledge allowed engineers to fashion the malicious software targeted at Iran’s nuclear program will, in short order, become known to other nations, he said, and next time could well be directed back at the originators — the very worry that President Obama reportedly voiced in approving the digital espionage in a joint program with Israel. “I’m afraid that in the future there will be other countries in this game,” Kaspersky said. “It’s only software. Maybe hacktivists will become cyberterrorists. And maybe the traditional terrorists will be in touch with the cyberterrorists.”

Read more: http://world.time.com/2012/06/06/finder-of-flame-virus-warns-israel-to-stop-before-its-too-late/#ixzz1xC7NLlCr

Read more: http://world.time.com/2012/06/06/finder-of-flame-virus-warns-israel-to-stop-before-its-too-late/

[malthaussen]

1. And maybe you can put the genie back in the bottle

News flash, Mr Kaspersky: it is already too late.

-- Mal

[RitchieRich]

2. wars are fought for money

so, if they can destroy/ steal the money, maybe the people won't get turned to ash.

Just a thought- not advocating the escalation of war.

[Vincent89]

3. Spam deleted by Violet_Crumble (MIR Team)

[dixiegrrrrl]

4. So USA & Israel created Flame?

Article implies that.
Related article reports USA/Israel created Stuxnet.
Both Flame and Stuxnet were targeted at Iran.

What amazes me is that is "civilian infrastructure that relies on computer operating systems like Microsoft Windows, which cannot be hardened against attack. "

Why oh why would critical infrastructures use Windows when there are so many other more secure OS?

[RC]

5. Because Windows is so well known and familiar to so many.

Linux is too geeky for too many people. Unwashed, Coke/Pepsi swilling, Cheetos eaters us it. Besides my secretary only knows Microsoft word.
And our computers are safe because we have a firewall and use MS Security Essentials.

[dixiegrrrrl]

6. I use Linux now

and now am using Opera browser more and more.
I do like Cheetos, but they do not like me, soooo...no more orange stained keyboard.

[ieoeja]

7. That's why we switched. "Windows techs and programmers are cheaper," they said.

To which I responded, "but how many more of them will we need?"

"Why would we need many more?"

"Because you will need lots and lots more servers that are lots and lots less reliable which means lots and lots more IT staff."

"Won't happen."


Our IT staff grew from less than 30 to over 300 in less than two years.

And UNIX is not the only alternative. The IBM AS/400 is actually a much simpler platform than either Linux or Windows. Wang was even easier and Wang Office predates Microsoft Office by decades. It is gone now, but some European company still manufactures the operating system and applications under another name (it can even run on Intel now).

Of course, getting people for those would be difficult. Not sure where you would get experienced Wang people. Of course, I had no experience when I started on it and it took me all of about two months to become an expert because the freaking thing is just that easy. AS/400 would be simpler as IBM donated 10,000 AS/400 computers to Chinese universities. And last I heard there was still one last university in the United States, Northern Illinois University, cranking out mainframe programmers.

[neohippie]

8. I believe someone let the cat out of the bag

see this NY Times story

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/01/world/middleeast/obama-ordered-wave-of-cyberattacks-against-iran.html?_r=1&smid=fb-share

[Blue_Tires]

9. yeah, i think it's one of the worst-kept secrets

that the malware is the work of Israel and/or America....

[RC]

10. We just keep digging ourselves deeper and deeper.

All that will be left to do is for someone else to fill the hole in on top of us.