A Brief History of Cybercrime and Cyberwarfare - The Technical and Social History of Software Engineering - page 395

viduals. These financial losses might lower tax and government incomes and pos-
sibly trigger some municipal bankruptcies.
The bottom line is that a long-term disruption of the U.S. infrastructure due
to either cyberattacks or electromagnetic pulses (EMPs) could have wide-ranging
consequences that could damage the economy for an extended period.
International cyberwarfare is already occurring. The Stuxnet worm attacks on
manufacturing equipment were probably created by a national cyberattack unit.
The newer Gauss virus attacks on banks and financial records were also probably
created by a national government.
The Stuxnet worm attacked industrial control computers that are manufactured
by Siemens. As it happens, these computers are used in Iran for a number of nucle-
ar development programs. Based on the sophistication of Stuxnet, it was probably
not done by amateurs. No country has claimed ownership. The New York Times
reported the United States as the probable author, and other reports claimed it was
Israel.
While about 60% of the Stuxnet attacks were in Iran, some were reported in
Germany and other parts of Europe. These were asserted to be collateral damages
from the Iranian attacks that somehow managed to reach other countries that were
not targeted.
In August 2010, the U.S. government issued a public statement that it believed
the Chinese government was gearing up for possible cyberattacks. Apparently, the
People's Liberation Army of China was using civilian experts as well as military
cyberwarfare specialists.
The Department of Homeland Security reported an increase in cyberattacks
against U.S. industrial sites from nine in 2009 up to 198 in 2011. The targets in-
cluded power plants, refineries, nuclear generators, and chemical plants.
In August 2012, the Saudi Aramco oil company was attacked by a worm or
virus that affected most of its internal computers and workstations, although ap-
parently not its refinery operations. As a precaution while eliminating the attack-
ing malware, Saudi Aramco withdrew completely from internet access for several
days. The specific virus or worm was not reported yet as this section was being
written.
As it happens, Congressman Jim Langevin is an expert on cybersecurity and a
member of the Congressional Cyber Security Caucus. He was highly critical of the
failure of the Senate to pass the Cyber Security Act (S.3414), introduced by Sen-