It looks that way — or the Israelis could simply want people to think that. But, whatever the truth, they seem to be coyly admitting to this summer’s massive cyber-attack against Iran.
The New York Times looks back at Stuxnet, the worm that targeted computers in Iran, specifically, those linked to Iran’s centrifuge work on uranium enrichment. The lede of the Times piece, by William Broad and David Sanger, says the virus “was precisely calibrated in a way that could send nuclear centrifuges wildly out of control.”
Then they have this:
The paternity of the worm is still in dispute, but in recent weeks officials from Israel have broken into wide smiles when asked whether Israel was behind the attack, or knew who was. American officials have suggested it originated abroad.
Later, Broad and Sanger go into some of the other hints that Israel may be behind the attack, which we covered (briefly in our Daily Talking Points) way back when (Oct. 1) via a piece by Laura Rozen.
Of course it was an Israeli cyber attack. Do we need absolute proof to know this? Of course not. And did you see today’s headline about the terrorist bombings that killed, I believe, at least one Iranian scientist? These actions are the acceptable (to world opinion) alternative to military strikes.
No, it was not an Israel cyber attack. Stuxnet is an American-made and deployed super cyber weapon courtesy of President George W. Bush.
No one should know this better than David Sanger because he revealed the paternity of Stuxnet a full 17 months before the Belarussian VirusBlokAda discovered it in June 2010.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/11/washington/11iran.html?_r=3&scp=2&sq=sanger%20and%20Iran&st=cse