Documentary Reveals Cyberattack Planned By US

A documentary set to premiere this week revealed a plan developed by the United States for cyberattacks against key infrastructure in Iran near the start of the administration of President Barack Obama. The plan, code-named “Nitro-Zeus,” was designed to disable the air defenses, communications services and electrical grid of Iran based on the movie that was revealed in separate reports by Buzzfeed and The New York Times.

The plan was the backup for the United States in case diplomatic efforts in limiting the nuclear program of Iran failed and a conflict started. The “Zero Days” documentary revealed that the main objective of the cyberattacks was to disable the Fordow Fuel Enrichment Plant in Iran. The facility is the hardest Iranian target since it is located close to the Iranian city of Qom. The plan required the insertion of a worm into the computer systems of the facility to disable the centrifuges, which were used in enriching uranium.

The documentary also showed the tensions between the West and Iran, which may result to a military conflict before the 2015 nuclear agreement. The plan highlights the significance of cyber-operations in military strategy. Director Alex Gibney revealed through Buzzfeed that Nitro Zeus was likely the biggest and most sophisticated cyber-operations plan of the United States.

Documentary Reveals Cyberattack Planned By US - image credit: cnn.com

The attack on Fordow was supposedly a follow-up to the 2010 cyberattack against the Natanz nuclear facility of Iran. The United States and Israel were blamed for the attack, which used a Stuxnet worm that was designed to leave a backdoor open to allow outsiders to knock out the facility and temporarily immobilize the nuclear program of Iran.

The documentary indicated that the Nitro Zeus would be implemented by hackers located at Fort Meade’s Remote Operations Center in Maryland. It was designed to penetrate significant sections of key Iranian infrastructure and prepare to attack together with a military operation. But, the ethics and legality of attacking civilian infrastructure was questioned by some National Security Agency and State Department officials.

The documentary also indicated that the Stuxnet worm was made more aggressive by Israel. While industrial facilities are the main targets of the cyberattack, it also infected regular computers, which resulted to its discovery in June 2010. The New York Times confirmed suspicions that the Stuxnet worm was the handiwork of the US. The Times cited unnamed sources within the US government, indicating the US developed the Stuxnet work as a method of preempting military strikes against Iran. The Stuxnet payload was supposedly brought to the facility through a thumb drive by a double agent.

Posted by George Daniels on Thursday February 18 2016, 9:20 AM EDT. All trademarks acknowledged. Filed under Technology. Comments and Trackbacks closed. Follow responses: RSS 2.0