Sunday, September 30, 2012

[kyakzdyw] Stuxnet and BU Biolab

The revelation that the Stuxnet virus was a U.S. and Israeli creation aimed at attacking Iranian nuclear facilities should force a reevaluation of the safety of the proposed Level 4 Boston University Biolab.

Our first commission Stuxnet-style attack (and lack of international punishment for it) invites retaliation of the same style and scale, perhaps quietly sabotaging an air filter or other sterilizing equipment so that extremely contagious deadly diseases can escape.

Security professionals classify Stuxnet and similar retaliation as Advanced Persistent Threats: the adversary has a lot of resources (e.g., a national government) and is willing to keep trying over and over in case of failure (as opposed to move on to an easier target).

The outdated risk assessment for the BU Biolab probably did not include this increased probability of an advanced persistent threat attack in retaliation for Stuxnet.  Currently, there is very little known about defending against advanced persistent threats.

Defense in depth would put the facility far from a densely populated area so that a failure of containment would not quickly spread.

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