German multinational conglomerate company Siemens has issued a fix for the software loopholes used by the notorious computer virus Stuxnet, according to a report. Stuxnet was discovered in 2010 after investigations into malfunctions at many industrial plants and factories.
According to the BBC, the fix comes as reports circulate of a fresh cyber attack on Iranian nuclear enrichment project.
Stuxnet exploited loopholes in the software Siemens wrote to oversee the running of its programmable logic controllers, devices used in many industrial facilities to automate a production process.
When a controller was infected with Stuxnet it made the motors it was typically connected to run out of control and burn out.
This is believed to have been behind Iran's need to replace many of the centrifuges it was using in its Natanz uranium enrichment plant.
According to the report, Siemens issued advisories saying it has updated the Simatic code in the controllers to remove the loopholes.
The Siemens update came as security firm F-Secure received an email believed to have been sent by a scientist working at Iran's Atomic Energy Organization, the report said.
In the message, the scientist said its plants at Natanz and Qom have been hit again by a worm.
No comments:
Post a Comment