Stuxnet Worm

We will first look at some known flaws in Windows 7 and Windows 8. An Information Security Engineer at Google had decided to reveal a flaw that affected two of Microsoft’s newest operating systems that allowed attackers to obtain higher privileges on an unpatched computer. The vulnerability was caused due to an error within the ‘win32k.sys’ when it processes

Ralph Langner’s article on the Stuxnet worm discusses the hardware, distribution and targets of the attack. He also goes into detail regarding the outlook of future attacks and what we can do to prevent them.

The film, Inside Out, depicts the life of a child in the middle and late childhood stage of development. The storyline follows Riley, a young girl who was uprooted from her whole life in Minnesota and moved to San Francisco for her father’s job. Led by her emotions – Joy, Fear, Anger, Disgust, and Sadness – she must discover how to adjust to a new life in a new city along with the new developments in her body. Inside Out addresses and focuses on the developmental changes children in this stage of childhood go through – physical, cognitive, and emotional. Riley’s physical development is most apparent throughout the movie with the substantial growth of her motor skills.

Let’s say user (A) download an execution file (EXE) on his-her PC and double click on that file, if this file is infected the virus works based on the written code by the hacker/ attacker/ intruder and copy some files into the system. In case, user (A) does not have virus protection, the virus works perfect in destroying that computer or sending information from this computer to the attacker email. Viruses not only designed to destroy PC’s, but also designed to get information from

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Another occurrence of cyberwarfare and its power lies within the Stuxnet worm, unleashed primarily to attack Iranian industrial programmable logic controllers (PLCs) in the nation’s Nuclear facilities. The Stuxnet worm is typically introduced to its target environment via an infected USB flash drive, and upon being loaded onto a computer running the Microsoft Windows operating system the worm would then seek out Siemens Step7 software. This software will then allow for Stuxnet to control Iranian PLCs, collecting information on industrial systems and causing the fast-spinning centrifuges to tear themselves apart. Stuxnet’s complexity is evident in its three prong approach to infection: It unloads a worm that executes all routines related to the main attack, it executes a link file that automatically activates other copies of the worm on the same network, and it activates its rootkit, which allows it to hide its processes and activity on the local computer as well as the entire computer network. Kaspersky Lab, an international software security group operating in almost 200 countries and territories worldwide, concluded that the attack “is a one-of-a-kind, sophisticated malware attack backed by a well-funded, highly skilled attack team” and that the “attack could only be conducted with nation-state support and backing”. In May 2011, the PBS program Need To Know cited a statement by Gary Samore, White House Coordinator for Arms Control and Weapons of Mass Destruction, in which

Each year there are many attempts to illegal gain entry into networks by attackers to steal information. Some attacks are designed to steal information while other may be to attack a system to cause damage or disrupt services. Attack can happen from anywhere in the world due to the internet and networks. A person from China can hack into an American network or such Stuxnet virus attack on Iran nuclear power plan which thought to be from Israel or United States but it is unsure where the virus originated from. According to Merkow & Breithaupt (2006), viruses caused the greatest financial loss over other computer crimes, (p 142). Worm is a type of virus which replicates and can easily infect a machine and then spread out across the network by using transport features of the computer or network.

As such, he introduces a technique of identifying a spectrum of potential vulnerabilities and suggests procedures to deal with them. Systems Specification and High Order Language Implementation are categorized as items of high risk to attacks. Security Policy and Machine Language Implementation are classified as items of moderate risk of being vulnerable to attacks. Circuits Electronics and Device Physics are of low and very low risks respectively. He also discusses potential threats such as deceiving operating systems to grant access to file or data to unauthorized users through direct (overt) and indirect (convert) channels. Walker also says that lack of precise definition of trusted operating systems and the higher cost of building them are the significant drawbacks faced by the vendors. Vendors are concerned that if they build trusted operating systems, they might not be accepted by their customers. The only solution suggested by the author was to have someone or a company builds it, shares the technology used, and convinces the general public on the significance of it. Once it becomes accepted, then there will be a widespread use of trusted computer operating systems.

As I walked through the streets, in downtown Guelph, my eyes gazed at the young youths who would sit on the sidewalk smoking because they had no home to go to and nothing to eat. Seeing those who are the same age as I suffer was not a pretty site, and inspired me to take a stand. This is why not involved with Rehoboth Care Centre. RCC feeds the less privileged youths every Sunday and also provides them with spiritual support. I have been involved with this organization for over four years, and I have had the best experiences. I simply got involved with RCC to strengthen my community and make a difference. Over the past four years, my efforts have strengthened others, provided long-term impact and greatly affected the way I see society.

In his article, Is “Stuxnet” the best malware ever? Gregg Keizer of Computer World says:

Pecola’s father, Mr. Breedlove, is almost the complete opposite of Mr. MacTeer. He is “a renting black, having put his family outdoors, had catapulted himself beyond the reaches of human consideration. He had joined the animals; was indeed an old dog, a snake, a ratty nigger” (Toni 18). He is drunkard and without a job. After he rapes his own daughter for the second time, he escapes outside the city. He is an irresponsible man and father who did not take care of his children or provide for them an appropriate home and food. Mr. Breedlove was adopted and raised by his great aunt who died when he was fifteen years old. when he was missing, no one took care of him. He moved from city to city drinking and gambling with bad men. Maybe because of this he became irresponsible and a drunkard. He loved his daughter, but in a harsh way he damaged her by raping her.

To understand the business of malware, one must understand how malware has evolved in the past twenty-five years. Malware, which includes all kinds of malicious software, was originally created to show the weaknesses of computers. The first type of malware, created in 1986, was a virus called “Brain.A. Brain.A was developed in Pakistan, by two brothers - Basit and Amjad. They wanted to prove that PC is not secure platform, so they created virus that was replicating using floppy disks” (Milošević). Even today malware is still used to check the security of machines.

Two of the common known attacks on computing systems are the deployment of computer viruses and malware.

Trojan in the computer world is a program that can permeate the whole system without victim’s awareness. The Trojan runs in the victim system, like a spy that sneaks into enemy and opens back door for other kinds of attacks. This is like the Trojan strategy in real war, so the program is called “Trojan Horse” or “Trojan”. Trojan usually includes two executable programs: client and server. The Trojan that hides in the victim system is the server, and the so-called “hacker” uses the client as the control terminal. Once the server runs, it will open one or more ports on the victim system, initiating contact with the client and

Network viruses are another favorite method of cyber criminals. As we all know, viruses can bring a network to