Stuxnet was the first known documented cyber weapon released to permanently damage another nation's assets. In this case, it was a worm that was released to damage SCADA-based Siemens Programmable Logic Controllers (PLC) and used a rootkit to modify the rotational speed of motors under the direct control of the PLC. The designers went out of their way to ensure the virus targeted only devices with rotational spin rates of slave variable frequency drives attached to Siemens S7-300 PLCs rotating at 807 Hz and 1210 Hz, as they are typically used for pumps and gas centrifuges for uranium enrichment.
The attack presumably started in April or March of 2010. The infection process followed these steps:
- Initial infection: The worm started ...
