Ralph Langner: Cracking Stuxnet, a 21st-century cyber weapon

http://www.ted.com When first discovered in 2010, the Stuxnet computer worm posed a baffling puzzle. Beyond its unusually high level of sophistication loomed a more troubling mystery: its purpose. Ralph Langner and team helped crack the code that revealed this digital warhead's final target -- and its covert origins. In a fascinating look inside cyber-forensics, he explains how.

TEDTalks is a daily video podcast of the best talks and performances from the TED Conference, where the world's leading thinkers and doers give the talk of their lives in 18 minutes. Featured speakers have included Al Gore on climate change, Philippe Starck on design, Jill Bolte Taylor on observing her own stroke, Nicholas Negroponte on One Laptop per Child, Jane Goodall on chimpanzees, Bill Gates on malaria and mosquitoes, Pattie Maes on the "Sixth Sense" wearable tech, and "Lost" producer JJ Abrams on the allure of mystery. TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design, and TEDTalks cover these topics as well as science, business, development and the arts. Closed captions and translated subtitles in a variety of languages are now available on TED.com, at http://www.ted.com/translate.

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• Ralph
• Langner
• TEDTalks
• TED
• talks
• Stuxnet
• computer
• worm
• virus
• malware
• software
• code
• programming
• control
• systems
• engineering
• Iran
• nuclear
• facility
• Natanz

[infanzer]

Talking about one of the most sophisticated and potentially dangerous computer viruses ever created, and they're using slides that look like they were made using Windows 95 Power Point, by a grade-school student.

[TheAppifier]

@infanzer Heh. It's possible there has *never* been a good programmer or analyst who can design graphics worth a damn, you know. :)

[InsurrectionProject]

@DoNotLaughAtMe People can write scripts to break through Avast.

[DoNotLaughAtMe]

Stuxnet vs Avast :D

[plopsywhopsy]

wouldnt it be funny if it was designed by an overweight pimpled face teenager sucking on cheese n redbull screaming n fist pumping watching this

[LangnerRalph]

@infanzer Well given that I was invited to speak at TED only one week before the event I think the slides are pretty cool.

[deassain]

@blamedorger no.

[blamedorger]

@flavorysoup I don't know squat about computers. Could someone simplify stuxnet for me by answering one question?-----did stuxnet successfully disable Irans nuke factories?

[Ragouel1991]

@TheAppifier If there was, he'd be called an animator and flip burgers on McDonalds.

[leofzky]

No one else is stunned by the fact they USE WINDOWS IN A NUCLEAR FACILITY? -_-

[SlackerSlayer]

@dans540i Maybe they are trying to be good jews since the "israeli" is not.