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Posted by Nayyer Naqvi in Pakistan-A Nation of Hope on July 10th, 2013
NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden has confirmed that the Stuxnet malware used to attack Iranian nuclear facilities was created as part of a joint operation between the Israelis and the NSA’s Foreign Affairs Directorate (FAD).
“The NSA and Israel cowrote it,” he told Der Spiegel in an email interview conducted before he publicly outed himself as the NSA mole. Snowden is currently in Russia and a “free man” according to Vladimir Putin – as long as there are no further NSA leaks.
The Stuxnet code, which has been deployed since 2005, is thought to be the first malware aimed specifically at damaging specific physical infrastructure*, and was inserted into the computer networks of the Iranian nuclear fuel factory in Natanz shortly after it opened.
Early variants attempted to contaminate uranium supplies by interfering with the flow of gas to the fuel being processed, potentially causing explosive results in the processing factory. Later a more advanced variant attacked the centrifuges themselves, burning out motors by rapidly starting and stopping the units and contaminating fuel production, although it may actually have encouraged the Iranians.
Last year an unnamed US official said that Stuxnet was part of a program calledOperation Olympic Games, started under President Bush and continued under the current administration, aimed at slowing down the Iranian nuclear effort without having to resort to risky airstrikes. General James Cartwright, a former vice-chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, is currently under investigation by the US government for allegedly leaking details of Operation Olympic Games.
Such international efforts are coordinated by the NSA’s Foreign Affairs Directorate (FAD), Snowden said.
The FAD has full cooperation with its so-called “Five Eye partners,” in the UK, Australia, New Zealand, and Canada, and these agencies are even better or worse (depending on your viewpoint) at collecting data. Typically, these countries practice “full take,” Snowden said, scooping every bit of data and storing it for later perusal.
“As a general rule, so long as you have any choice at all, you should never route through or peer with the UK under any circumstances,” he said. “Their fibers are radioactive, and even the Queen’s selfies to the pool boy get logged.”
Other European countries also work closely with the NSA, he said, describing the organization as “in bed together with the Germans.” Other countries don’t ask where the NSA’s data comes from, and the US returns that favor, to give politicians plausible deniability in the event of source disclosure, he explained.
Multinational companies also play the game, Snowden said, and cooperate with the NSA to enable the slurping of their customer’s data, although a few (unnamed) firms don’t submit their data to NSA inspection. “The NSA considers the identities of telecom collaborators to be the jewels in their crown of omniscience,” he said
“As a general rule, US-based multinationals should not be trusted until they prove otherwise,” he said. “This is sad, because they have the capability to provide the best and most trusted services in the world if they actually desire to do so.”
There are unconfirmed reports that the CIA was using dodgy software as far back as the 1980s to cause problems with its then–enemy number one, the Soviet Union.
According to National Security Council staffer Thomas Reed, the CIA got wind that the Soviets were trying to steal industrial-control software for a new gas pipeline from a Canadian supplier. He claims the CIA installed a trojan into the Canadian firm’s software and allowed it to be purloined by the KGB.
“The pipeline software that was to run the pumps, turbines and valves was programmed to go haywire, to reset pump speeds and valve settings to produce pressures far beyond those acceptable to the pipeline joints and welds,” he said. “The result was the most monumental non-nuclear explosion and fire ever seen from space.”
The report has never been officially confirmed, although the CIA has said that it introduced numerous dodgy technologies to the Soviets, including “flawed turbines [that] were installed on a gas pipeline.”
Posted by Mahi Ali in CYBERWARFARE on July 10th, 2013
The former National Security Agency contractor on the run from U.S. authorities halfway around the world said that Stuxnet, an unprecedented cyber weapon thattargeted Iran’s nuclear program, was the product of a joint American-Israeli secret operation.
Before Edward Snowden became a household name, he conducted an interview via encrypted emails with cyber security expert Jacob Appelbaum and was asked about the game-changing computer code, according to the interview published in the German newspaper Der Spiegel Monday.
“NSA [U.S. National Security Agency] and Israel co-wrote it,” Snowden said.
Snowden said that the NSA regularly works with foreign governments and has a “massive body” called the Foreign Affairs Directorate to deal with international partners.
In the interview Snowden did not discuss Stuxnet further and, so far, none of the newspapers Snowden has worked with have published any documents directly relating to the cyber weapon.
Discovered in 2010 but possibly in action as early as 2005, Stuxnet was designed to infiltrate the computer system at an Iranian nuclear facility, physically damage the facility’s infrastructure by throwing off automated systems and cover its tracks so that even if engineers were monitoring those systems, everything would appear normal.
At the time of its discovery, cyber security experts put the U.S. and Israel on a short list of nations capable of developing such a sophisticated and expensive cyber weapon. In June 2012, The New York Times reported Stuxnet was part of a cyber offensive program begun under President Bush and accelerated by President Obama which targeted Iran’s nuclear program and said Stuxnet was “developed by the United States and Israel.” No U.S. or Israeli officials have gone on the record to claim responsibility for Stuxnet or its digital successors.
Snowden remains holed up on the transit side of Moscow’s Sheremedevo International Airport. He has been unable to travel since he arrived there from Hong Kong more than two weeks ago because the State Department canceled his passport. He has also managed to remain out of sight since his arrival.
Snowden has been searching for a safe haven where he can evade U.S. charges of espionage. Venezuela has said it would grant Snowden political asylum, but it remains unclear how he will be able to travel to the South American nation from Moscow without having to stop in a country that holds an extradition treaty with the U.S. There are no direct commercial flights to Venezuela’s capital of Caracas.
Ralph Langner’s Stuxnet Deep Dive is the definitive technical presentation on the PLC attack portion of Stuxnet. He did a good job of showing very technical details in a readable and logical presentation that you can follow in the video if you know something about programming and PLC’s.
The main purpose of Ralph’s talk was to convince the audience with “100% certainty” that Stuxnet was designed specifically to attack the Natanz facility. He does this at least four different ways, and I have to agree there is no doubt.
This video represents exactly what we are trying to accomplish at S4. Ralph is speaking in front of a very experienced and knowledgeable ICS security audience, and he doesn’t waste any time on what Stuxnet 101. Instead, he dives right into the S7 code and walks the audience through, line by line, some of the most interesting FC’s. This level of detail has never been seen before. It likely would bore or be lost on most audiences, but the S4 crowd was spellbound.
It’s high quality video so expand to full screen to see the code.
The video shows the level of effort Langner’s team put into analyzing Stuxnet as there comments are throughout the S7 Stuxnet code. Many in the audience remarked that it was probably much better documented than the Stuxnet author’s version.
I’m tempted to try to excerpt the most interesting points of the presentation, but if you want to know about Stuxnet’s PLC code you should just watch it.
Posted by kisakhani in NAWAZ SHARIF MUZZLES PRESS on July 9th, 2013
“Gutsy camera crews, go-get-’em producers and correspondents, and a competitive on-air culture compound the danger of working in Pakistan, and not just for those in television, but also for newspapers, magazines, and radio.”
Nawaz Sharif’s fascist and dictatorial tendencies are coming to surface. He tends to forget that such tactics had him booted out of Prime Ministership twice already. He has not learned from his past mistakes and continues to repeat them, including bear baiting the Pakistan Armed Forces.
Nawaz Sharif is showing his true colors as a former Union Busting Goonda of Ittefaq Foundry. He is known to have ordered beatings of Ittefaq foundry workers who wanted to form a Workers Union.”
“I was the general secretary of PIU. In the end, they had asked us to resign we were in a confrontation. The confrontation was with Nawaz Sharif’s relative Farooq Barkat.
They beat me, abused me a lot. They took pins and forced them into my thumbs.http://www.viewpointonline.net/the-story-of-union-busting-at-ittefaq.html
ARY’s investigative camera crews was attacked earlier today.
It was a big crew–apparently seven or eight, including the driver. But they were heavily outnumbered by the thugs who didn’t want them around. Two of the crew’s members were wounded by gunfire and others badly beaten when
they tried to start taping the medical response to a sexual assault on a minor girl.
Thus, the Sharif Brothers Govt.(installed by 600 Million Rupee US sponsored Election rigging) operates above the law. Their first action is to brutally attack journalists and convey to the press that they will control the press with such pressure tactics.
Shahbaz Sharif is a known control freak, who does not tolerate freedom of expression or dissent of any kind. A preview of Sharif Bros. version of press Freedom was displayed today.
Posted by Muhammad Imran Qadir in Global Islam, Islam: The Universal Message of Peace on July 8th, 2013
LETTER TO EDITOR
July 7th, 2013
Desecration of Qura’nic Ayah
Minister for Religious Affairs was heard saying in a TV news bulletin this evening that a law would be made against the desecration of the newspapers pages containing Qura’nic Ayah. Since it could be difficult to apportion the exact blame on some specific desecrator and/or it could alternately provide the fundamentalists with a handle to implicate even the innocent ones for committing this act of blasphemy, it is strongly suggested that the newspapers and other publication be asked to stop this practice of publishing the Arabic script of the Qura’nic ayah in their papers in all forms, whether be it a daily feature on the top of front page or in the text of an article on other pages regarding some Islamic teachings etc. and only the Urdu or English translation of the Ayah be printed instead. May be the Urdu or English translation would not evoke the same degree of anguish in the mind of our clergy and clerics as does the Arabic text.
Col. Riaz Jafri (Retd)
Rawalpindi
Pakistan
E.mail: [email protected]
Posted by AghaSaad in Dove of Peace on July 7th, 2013
Pakistan and Indian Border Forces have demonstrated the best traditions of the culture and familial values of the South Asian Sub-Continent. These kinds of acts bode well for the future of both the nations and the common bonds which bind them. In times of stress these values and traditions come to the surface like in the case of pretty little Pooja, who had innocently strayed across the international border. A lesson can be learned from this incident. The innocence of children in not understanding the man-mad boundaries on Allah’s good green Earth. A child does not carry the baggage of 60 years of mutual hatred and suspicion. Even the Armed Forces of both the Nations treat each other with respect and professional dignity. A visiting Indian general at Flag meetings is saluted by his juniors in Pakistan Army and Vice Versa. Both, the nations should learn some lessons from the story of Pooja. Enough young men and creme de la creme of both sides have lost their lives in keeping these boundaries alive. What this incident also demonstrates that before we are Pakistani and Indians, Hindus and Muslims, and Friends and Enemies, we are HUMANS.
‘Pak forces said they would treat her like their daughter… and they did’
On March 29, just like any other day, seven-year-old Pooja Meghwal and her elder brother took the cattle for grazing. But instead of waiting for her brother, Pooja decided to return home alone, after collecting some firewood. However, she only made it home after three days, having strayed across the border, where some Pakistani Rangers looked after her, gave her a new salwar suit, slippers and a hamper of sweets, chocolates and chips.
“The weight of the firewood on my head made me lose direction. I kept walking till I reached a BSF checkpost. I asked the people there for some water. I then set out for home again, though the route did not look familiar,” says Pooja at her home in 43 KYD village in Khajuwala, 150 kms from Bikaner.
“I somehow managed to squeeze through the barbed wire on the border. Each time, I first removed my slippers and slipped these through first. I have lost my slippers several times and my mother had warned me that if I lose these, I will not get a new pair,” she recalls.
Lost and alone, she fell asleep crying on the first night. When she woke up the next morning, she found three Pakistani security personnel staring at her. “They took me to a room, and an aunty came and stayed with me. At first, I was really scared and cried. She hit me on the head and told me I would be kept there forever if I did not stop crying,” says Pooja.
“So I stopped crying, and was very happy when they gave me a new salwar suit and slippers. They also gave me roti and subzi, and some toffees, biscuits, chips and sweets. I had a lot to eat,” she adds.
Meanwhile, her family members approached the BSF for help. “Several flag meetings were held between BSF and the Pakistani Rangers. For three days, there was no clear word on whether they had the girl or not. All they said was that if they found her, they would treat her as their daughter. And of course, they did treat her very well,” said Ravinder Kaswan, sarpanch of this border village.
Late on April 1, the villagers came to know that the Pakistani Rangers had handed over Pooja to the BSF.
Since her return, the Pakistani Rangers have reportedly been asking the BSF personnel to get Pooja to the border so they could meet her again. While her family members are grateful to the Pakistani forces, the BSF personnel have warned them to be on guard.
The BSF personnel don’t want Pooja to wear the salwar suit gifted by the Pakistani side.(BSF Namak Mirch) They have summoned her father at least thrice, asking him if she gets nightmares of being “tortured”
But Pooja, like any seven-year-old, is happy with her new salwar suit and slippers, munching on the sweets and chips that she got from across the border. 😎
– See more at: http://www.indianexpress.com/news/pak-forces-said-they-would-treat-her-like-their-daughter…-and-they-did/1099128/0#sthash.CWR9OnBi.dpuf
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