The worm is believed to have been designed to gain access to and disrupt power grids in industrial facilities. The worm appeared in July and is known to be widespread in Iran with one security researcher claiming the worm's high concentration in the country, along with the delay of the opening of the Bushehr plant, points to the Stuxnet worm being created to sabotage Iran's fledgling nuclear industry.

 

While such accusations remain no more than rumour and speculation at this stage, some people are seeing these attacks as heralding in a new era of cyber warfare, with nations targeting each other instead of small groups of hackers doing the harm.

 

The Stuxnet worm works by exploiting three holes in the Windows operating system, one of which has been patched in the meantime. It reportedly targets computers running Siemens software used in industrial control systems.

 

The worm can be used to remotely seize control of industrial systems, with some fuelling speculation that its sophistication is a sign that it was created by the United States or Israel, and not by a rogue cyber criminal.

 

Mahmoud Jafari, project manager at the Bushehr plant commented that the worm, “has not caused any damage to major systems of the plant,” and that a team of specialists was working to remove it from several infected computers within the plant.

 

Jafari said the infection was limited to personal computers of staff members and that it wouldn't affect the plans to open the plant in October.