Iran Fights Malware Attacking Computers/ Who is in charge

[Jeffersons Ghost]

Iran Fights Malware Attacking Computers
By DAVID E. SANGER


WASHINGTON — The Iranian government agency that runs the country’s nuclear facilities, including those the West suspects are part of a weapons program, has reported that its engineers are trying to protect their facilities from a sophisticated computer worm that has infected industrial plants across Iran.

The agency, the Atomic Energy Organization, did not specify whether the worm had already infected any of its nuclear facilities, including Natanz, the underground enrichment site that for several years has been a main target of American and Israeli covert programs.

But the announcement raised suspicions, and new questions, about the origins and target of the worm, Stuxnet, which computer experts say is a far cry from common computer malware that has affected the Internet for years. A worm is a self-replicating malware computer program. A virus is malware that infects its target by attaching itself to programs or documents.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/26/world/middleeast/26iran.html?_r=1&adxnnl=1&ref=global-home&adxnnlx=1285499778-kOhpX7M3+IyLEtel6wmWQw

Are the two stories related?

In the world of cybersecurity, a question of who's in charge

WASHINGTON — In a nationally televised cyberwar game earlier this year, it took “about four minutes” for the Department of Homeland Security to ask the Pentagon to take the lead in defending the nation, according to former CIA director Gen. Michael Hayden. In military circles, there is a widely held perception that during a real cyberattack, the Pentagon and its Cyber Command would take the lead in a federal government response. In reality, it remains far from clear who will be in charge.

Almost 16 months after President Barack Obama declared cybersecurity a “national security priority,” critics from Congress to private industry say the White House has dragged its feet in developing a hierarchy of authority that intelligence leaders say is badly overdue. The Pentagon, many believe, has not sufficiently asserted its claim to those powers.

But on Thursday, Gen. Keith Alexander, commander of U.S. Cyber Command and the National Security Agency, told the House Armed Services Committee that he needs two things: money and authority.

http://www.stripes.com/news/in-the-world-of-cybersecurity-a-question-of-who-s-in-charge-1.119430

[hobbit709]

1. ANY computer handling critical data that is connected to the outside world

is a security risk.

[Jeffersons Ghost]

2. I think we just attacked Iran in a cyber-war

[dixiegrrrrl]

4. and did a half assed job of trying to pretend we had nothing to do with it.

[Jeffersons Ghost]

5. I'm pretty sure that Alexander wants Iran to know who hit them

[sendero]

3. And any computer running a Windows..

... OS is doubly vulnerable. The idea that anyone would use Windows to run a nuclear plant is laughable. I wouldn't run an ice cream truck with it.

The Iranians opened their kimonos wide on this one, it's pretty funny.