# Was the Stuxnet malware designed to destroy Iran's Bushehr nuclear power plant? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 25, 2010, 5:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-stuxnet-malware-designed-to-destroy-irans-bushehr-nuclear-power-plant/554976 "2010-09-25T05:19:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2010, 11:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-stuxnet-malware-designed-to-destroy-irans-bushehr-nuclear-power-plant/554976/61 "2010-11-20T11:58:02Z")
[Worm Can Deal Double Blow to Nuclear Program](http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/20/world/middleeast/20stuxnet.html?_r=1&hpw) > [@](#): > > The German software engineer who in September was the first to report that a computer worm was apparently designed to sabotage targets in Iran said Friday that the program contained two separate “digital warheads.” [http://www.langner.com/english/?p=528](http://www.langner.com/english/?p=528) > [@](#): > > Warhead one is running on Siemens S7-315 controllers. It contains the much-quoted DEADFOOT sequence, first discovered by us on Sep 16 2010, where control is temporarily taken away from the legitimate program. Code analysis shows that warhead one manipulates an array of up to 186 high-speed drives > … > Warhead two is running on a Siemens S7-417 controller. It has no obvious relation to warhead one in structure, configuration and timing. The configuration that warhead two is looking for matches that of a steam turbine controller as it is used in power plants, such as the Bushehr nuclear power plant. The likelihood that this virus was written by script kiddies or anyone else with no interest in attacking Iran has become vanishingly small. ---
**Author:** ![GiantRat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47c2d/32.png) [@GiantRat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GiantRat)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2010, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-stuxnet-malware-designed-to-destroy-irans-bushehr-nuclear-power-plant/554976/62 "2010-11-20T14:33:24Z")
> [@coremelt](#): > > You obviously didn’t read the original article quoted above. Stuxnet has been written for a specific target, it carefully checks for fingerprints of a specific hardware system and only delivers its payload on that system. It also looks like it spread from a USB key that was planted inside a specific facility using an inside agent. It also hit Indonesia, and several other countries… ---
**Author:** ![WarmNPrickly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/d78d45/32.png) [@WarmNPrickly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WarmNPrickly)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2010, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-stuxnet-malware-designed-to-destroy-irans-bushehr-nuclear-power-plant/554976/63 "2010-11-20T15:24:29Z")
Indonesia has centrifuges? Or are you equating being infected with doing actual damage. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2010, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-stuxnet-malware-designed-to-destroy-irans-bushehr-nuclear-power-plant/554976/64 "2010-11-20T17:51:14Z")
Remember, the virus has infected plenty of computers - it just hasn’t done anything, except \*perhaps \*in Iran. The virus probably hit the net after it had already done the job it was designed for. I’d be willing to be that once the attack was detected, the target facility sent copies of its software, and maybe even some of its hardware, off-site for inspection; from there, it wouldn’t be much of a problem for the virus to go, well, viral. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-stuxnet-malware-designed-to-destroy-irans-bushehr-nuclear-power-plant/554976.md?page=3)