60 Minutes Weighs Stuxnet’s Legacy

The security community might understand what the Stuxnet worm did. Now the war is over what the worm means – Stuxnet’s legacy, if you will. The latest to weigh in on that question is Steve Croft, of the CBS news magazine 60 Minutes.

The security community might understand what the Stuxnet worm did. Now the war is over what the worm means – Stuxnet’s legacy, if you will. The latest to weigh in on that question is Steve Croft, of the CBS news magazine 60 Minutes.

We knew this story was coming when a 60 Minutes news crew turned up at the S4 Conference in January. The reporters were there to film a presentation by Stuxnet expert Ralph Langner, who was giving a detailed talk on the Stuxnet source code. The report leans heavily on an interview with Langner, as well as Liam O’Murchu of Symantec. 

Among the interesting questions weighed in the CBS report is whether Stuxnet could be qualified as a “successful” operation, and whether – even if it was – unleashing it was the right way to go. Sean McGurk, Acting Director of the National Cybersecurity and Communications INtegration Center at the Department of Homeland Security, is quoted wondering whether the worm opened a Pandora’s Box that will eventually deliver in-kind attacks against U.S. critical infrastructure. 

Check out the whole segment here.


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