Nu, Flip the Switch Already!

The Daily Telegraph Reports that Russian scientists providing technical support to Iran's Bushehr nuclear reactor, are considered that activating the reactor, could cause a meltdown on the scale or the Chernobyl disaster.

The scientists, "..have raised serious concerns about the extensive damage caused to the plant's computer systems by the mysterious Stuxnet virus, which was discovered last year and is widely believed to have been the result of a sophisticated joint US-Israeli cyber attack."

Ali Akbar Salehi, Iran's foreign minister who also serves as head of the country's Atomic Energy Organisation, rejected suggestions earlier this month that the Bushehr opening schedule should be postponed. "All the rumours related to the Westerners' claims that Stuxnet had caused damage to the nuclear plants are rejected," he said.

However, Russian scientists working at the plant have become so concerned by Iran's apparent disregard for nuclear safety issues that they have lobbied the Kremlin directly to postpone activation until at least the end of the year, so that a proper assessment can be made of the damage caused to its computer operations by Stuxnet.

The Iranian government is bitterly opposed to any further delay, which it would regard as another blow to national pride on a project that is more than a decade behind schedule. While Western intelligence officials believe Iran's nuclear programme is aimed at producing nuclear weapons, Iran insists the project's goals are peaceful.

The Russian scientists' report to the Kremlin, a copy of which has been seen by The Daily Telegraph, concludes that, despite "performing simple, basic tests" on the Bushehr reactor, the Russian team "cannot guarantee safe activation of the reactor".

It also accuses the Iranian management team, which is under intense political pressure to stick to the deadline, of "not exhibiting the professional and moral responsibility" that is normally required. They accuse the Iranians of having "disregard for human life" and warn that Russia could find itself blamed for "another Chernobyl" if it allows Bushehr to go ahead.

Go ahead guys and flip the switch already.

It's only a few wimpy, simple, basic, safety tests.



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Israeli Stuxnet Cyberweapon Taking Over the World?

Last week, reports first surfaced that a software virus was wreaking havoc in Iran, possibly damaging the Iranian nuclear weapons program.

The virus, named "stuxnet" is also causing all sorts of damage to China as well.

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 computer worm has wreaked havoc in China, infecting millions of computers around the country, state media reported this week.

Stuxnet is feared by experts around the globe as it can break into computers that control machinery at the heart of industry, allowing an attacker to assume control of critical systems like pumps, motors, alarms and valves.

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. [BreitBart]

Suspicious fingers are pointing towards a silent Israel, and that the super top secret 8200 unit was behind it. 8200 is so top secret, that writing any more about it than the above mention could get this blog deleted and turned into a Belgian Website selling waffles.

On Thursday the NY Times found an alleged smoking gun, that Israel might be behind the virus -- in that one of the modules in the malicious software is named "Myrtus" (Hadas).

That use of the word “Myrtus” — which can be read as an allusion to Esther — to name a file inside the code is one of several murky clues that have emerged as computer experts try to trace the origin and purpose of the rogue Stuxnet program, which seeks out a specific kind of command module for industrial equipment.

Not surprisingly, the Israelis are not saying whether Stuxnet has any connection to the secretive cyberwar unit it has built inside Israel’s intelligence service. Nor is the Obama administration, which while talking about cyberdefenses has also rapidly ramped up a broad covert program, inherited from the Bush administration, to undermine Iran’s nuclear program. In interviews in several countries, experts in both cyberwar and nuclear enrichment technology say the Stuxnet mystery may never be solved.

There are many competing explanations for myrtus, which could simply signify myrtle, a plant important to many cultures in the region. But some security experts see the reference as a signature allusion to Esther, a clear warning in a mounting technological and psychological battle as Israel and its allies try to breach Tehran’s most heavily guarded project. Others doubt the Israelis were involved and say the word could have been inserted as deliberate misinformation, to implicate Israel. (NYTimes)

Instead of focusing on the Purim-time message of Esther/Hadas/Myrtle, the NY Times could have chosen the much more timely message of the current Jewish festival of sukkot -- in which the myrtle branches, "Hadassim" are ceremoniously waved along with the etrog, lulav and aravot (as part of the 4 species)


Regardless, I'm glad my blog isn't hosted on a Siemens Control Host computer...and I proudly serve in the IDF reserves (I hope that will keep my blog safe for now).

Visiting Israel?

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with top Israeli Anti-Terror Experts!

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