Cyberattack is a concept that has become commonplace in the modern world. Sociologists around the world are unanimous in the opinion that modern society has become more conflictual than ever before. In other words, the number of conflicts in the political, social, labor, religious, and personal spheres is constantly increasing. Most threatening is the fact that there is no end in sight.
Conflicts are not resolved, but instead increasingly sophisticated lines of military strategy are being developed. This time we are talking about the creation of military-purpose computer viruses capable of performing extremely effective cyber attacks. They can disable defensive facilities and even industrial complexes. The capabilities of this unusual type of weapon were demonstrated by the Stuxnet virus. When it was discovered by experts in the summer of 2010, it immediately became the main topic of international media coverage. Such serious attention to this "worm" among specialists in the field of antivirus tools is explained by many factors that made this topic mysterious and fantastic.
Specialists, in particular, are convinced that Stuxnet is an extremely complex malicious program belonging to a completely new generation of computer viruses.
Stuxnet can be updated via the global computer network, receiving updates from remote servers. The program monitors that all copies of Stuxnet on the infected system are updated to the latest version. In addition, the virus is able to work offline for a long time, spreading through removable media and looking for its target.
But the most dangerous thing is Stuxnet's new ability for viruses to interfere with the operation of industrial control devices. We are talking primarily about logical controllers, which are the most widespread. They are installed in factories, power plants, and trains. A cyberattack carried out using such a virus will lead to the collection of data on the operation of a particular enterprise, after which the controller's protection will be overcome, and the virus will issue dangerous control commands. According to Ralph Langner, a German security specialist for computer systems, the target of this virus is a specific enterprise, that is, it is able to work extremely accurately. At the same time, Stuxnet does not attract too much attention to objects that are not of interest to it, which it uses only to infect new computers. Such a sophisticated computer virus that allows a cyberattack on critical industrial facilities is a new era in the methods of warfare. In the wars of the future, these technologies will become widespread, since cyberattacks will make it possible to neutralize combat control systems for a while. Therefore, combating cyber attacks that use new-generation viruses will require very significant resources, as well as the joint work of security structures of many countries.very substantial resources will be required, as well as the joint work of the security structures of many countries.very substantial resources will be required, as well as the joint work of the security structures of many countries.