Threatpost Special Coverage: Spy Worms

Threatpost broke new ground in the last year with coverage of a series of sophisticated, malicious spying programs: Stuxnet, Duqu and Flame.

A top source of information on the Stuxnet worm since it was discovered in the summer of 2010, Threatpost continued to serve readers with stories that delved into the origins and purpose of the mysterious worm. The January 19 “Stuxnet Expert: Analysis Shows Design Flaw, Not Vulnerability Sunk Siemens” presented never-before seen analysis of the worm, which provided near-conclusive proof that Iran’s uranium enrichment facility was the target of Stuxnet. Threatpost editor Dennis Fisher was among the first to report on possible connections between Stuxnet and the later Duqu worm with his November, 2011 story “Researchers Convinced Duqu Written By Same Group As Stuxnet.”

With the discovery of the Flame worm in May, 2012, Threatpost was again out front in exposing the purpose and origins of the suspicious malicious software. The site provided an inside look at the global effort to decipher the worm’s functioning and purpose and was among the first sites to report on researchers’ discovery of links between the Flame malware and Stuxnet. Threatpost also offered analysis on the broader implications of state-directed cyber weapons such as Flame and Stuxnet, as in Dennis Fisher’s June 1, 2012 editorial “Flame Malware Raises Need for Open Talk on Use of Cyberweapons.”