How the world's first cyber super weapon 'designed by the CIA' attacked Iran - and now threatens the world

* Experts believe it was designed by the CIA
* 'We have opened a new chapter in history' - expert

By Rob Waugh

The CIA could have been behind a computer virus dubbed the world's first cyber 'super weapon' that attacked an Iranian nuclear plant, experts claim.

The launch of Stuxnet in 2010 marked the transformation of viruses into weapons of war.

Experts believe it was so sophisticated that it could have only been invented by designers with the backing of a nation state, with the spy arm of the U.S government being the main suspects.

It was purpose-built to attack Iran's Busehr nuclear plant, overriding and controlling circuits inside the plant to cause physical damage.

It was the first malware that could truly be described as a 'cyber-weapon'.

'With Stuxnet we have opened a new chapter in human history,' says Ralph Langner, the security expert who unravelled the attack. 'There is now no way we can stop or control the proliferation of cyber-weapons.'

To begin with, the sheer sophistication of the attack was what dazzled experts - it exploited four separate vulnerabilities in Windows to penetrate and override industrial control systems designed by Siemens.

It would have taken experts months to design.

But in the wake of Stuxnet, it's become clear that the weapon was almost over-designed for the job.
The Stuxnet attack on Iran's Bushehr nuclear plant - a computer 'worm' specifically written to attack industrial control systems - was proof that the software in many industrial plants was vulnerable to attack.

Since then, there has been increased interest in the idea - both from researchers, and from potential attackers. Since then, other software has 'copied' Stuxnet - raising the alarming possibility of attackers simply downloading such weapons and unleashing them at will.

Nations across the world have long warned that future wars will include cyber assaults on the industries and economies of adversaries, and the potential targets include power plants, pipelines and air traffic control systems.

Relatively unsophisticated 'computers' used to control industrial devices are 'open' to the internet - leaving plants such as Busehr vulnerable to attack.

In theory, many plants - including utilities such as water and gas - are open to such attacks.

Earlier this month, suspicions were raised about a remote attack on a water plant in America - but it proved to be an engineer accessing his work remotely.
But governments, including Britain's, are trying desperately to shield vulnerable utilities before someone deploys the next cyber weapon.
The British government recently bought a 'cyber range' - designed to allow 'testing' of networks to harden them against hostile intrusions.

In America, government agencies are also taking action.

Acting DHS Deputy Undersecretary Greg Schaffer said that industries are increasingly vulnerable to hackers and foreign agents due to 'connected' equipment - and 'there have been intrusions.'

'We are connecting equipment that has never been connected before to global networks,' Schaffer said. Hackers and perhaps foreign governments 'are knocking on the doors of these systems - there have been intrusions.'

'Everybody is going crazy about the offensive capabilities and opportunities it gives you,' Langner adds. 'What people don’t realise is how easy such attacks are, and that you don’t need the resources of a nation state to pull them off.

'We can predict that rogue states, terrorists, criminals and hackers will soon be able to use them.'

'Some time ago at a conference where I had expressed my belief that Langley and the Department of Energy were the leading forces behind Stuxnet , I was later approached in private by an official of the US military who said: 'You’re right, we are simply not smart enough to do something like this.' If the Pentagon had developed Stuxnet, it might have been much more crude and brute-force.'

Many observers thought that the sophistication of Stuxnet would have required the resources of a nation to design. Others suspected it was produced by the U.S. or Israel.

The copycat, Duqu, required much less skill, though: it simply copied

Duqu is designed to penetrate industrial systems and send information to its creators. It's designed to run for 36 days, sending innocent 'dummy' images to its creators, then hiding stolen information such as design documents amongst them as it operates.

Unlike Stuxnet, it doesn't self-replicate inside computer systems - and is seen as a 'precursor' to an attack designed to cause physical or financial damage.

Symantec says that the detection of Duqu does not mean that the danger is over.

'The threat was highly targeted toward a limited number of organizations for their specific assets,' said the security firm in a statement. 'However, it’s possible that other attacks are being conducted against other organizations in a similar manner with currently undetected variants.'

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security said it was aware of the reports and was taking action.
'DHS' Industrial Control Systems Cyber Emergency Response Team has issued a public alert and will continue working with the cybersecurity research community to gather and analyze data and disseminate further information to our critical infrastructure partners as it becomes available,' a DHS official said.

'Parts of Duqu are nearly identical to Stuxnet, but with a completely different purpose,' Symantec said. 'Duqu is essentially the precursor to a future Stuxnet-like attack.'

Duqu is designed to gather data from industrial control system manufacturers to make it easier to launch an attack in the future by capturing information including keystrokes.

"The attackers are looking for information such as design documents that could help them mount a future attack on an industrial control facility,' Symantec said.

In a 2007 test at the Idaho National Laboratory, government hackers were able to break into the control system running a large diesel generator, causing it to self-destruct.

Before the test, he said, the notion of cyber warfare 'was mainly smoke and mirrors. But the Aurora tests showed that, you know what? We have a new kind of weapon.'

Rick Perry Says Human Rights for Gays ‘Not in America’s Interests’

Texas Gov. Rick Perry said today that using foreign aid to combat human rights abuses against homosexuals in foreign countries is “not in America’s interests” and attacked President Obama’s decision to require U.S. agencies operating abroad to promote equal rights for gays as part of the administration’s “war on traditional American values.”

“Just when you thought Barack Obama couldn’t get any more out of touch with America’s values, AP reports his administration wants to make foreign aid decisions based on gay rights. This administration’s war on traditional American values must stop,” Perry said in the statement. “Promoting special rights for gays in foreign countries is not in America’s interests and not worth a dime of taxpayers’ money.”

Perry moved beyond the national security implications of the decision and honed in on what he deemed to be an attack on “traditional American values.”

“But there is a troubling trend here beyond the national security nonsense inherent in this silly idea,” he said. “This is just the most recent example of an administration at war with people of faith in this country. Investing tax dollars promoting a lifestyle many [Americans] of faith find so deeply objectionable is wrong. President Obama has again mistaken America’s tolerance for different lifestyles with an endorsement of those lifestyles. I will not make that mistake.”

In a memorandum released today, Obama said foreign aid should be used by U.S. agencies operating abroad to “promote and protect the human rights of LGBT persons,” including combating the criminalization of LGBT status or conduct by foreign governments, along with protecting LGBT asylum seekers and refugees.

“I am deeply concerned by the violence and discrimination targeting LGBT persons around the world, whether it is passing laws that criminalize LGBT status, beating citizens simply for joining peaceful LGBT pride celebrations, or killing men, women, and children for their perceived sexual orientation,” Obama said in the memo.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton today equated gay rights with women’s rights during a speech in Geneva.

The Human Rights Campaign condemned the Texas governor’s statement.

“Rick Perry has made no secret of his dislike for LGBT Americans – but his most recent remarks are outrageous even by his own standards,” said HRC President Joe Solmonese in a statement. “It is bewildering that someone who wants to be President of the United States wouldn’t want to see our nation be a global leader in universal human rights. This is further proof that Rick Perry doesn’t want to represent the best interests of all Americans – he wants to advance an extremist, anti-gay agenda that represents the fringe views of a very small few.”

Will this be the first time the world sees the Ark of Covenant? Leaking roof in Ethiopian chapel 'will lead to relic being revealed'

* Ark contains Ten Commandments God 'gave' to Moses on Mount Sinai
* One holy monk is the only person allowed to see the holy box...
* ...but he'll need a hand carrying metre long wooden structure to new home

By Rick Dewsbury

A very British problem of a leaky church roof could be about to give the world the chance to glimpse the legendary Ark of the Covenant.

That's because the claimed home of the iconic relic - a small chapel in Ethiopia - has sprung a leak and so the Ark could now be on the move.

The Ark - which The Bible says holds God's Ten Commandments given to Moses on Mount Sinai - is said to have been kept in Aksum, in the Chapel of the Tablet, adjacent to St Mary of Zion Church, since the 1960s.

According to the Old Testament, it was first kept in the Temple of Solomon in Jerusalem for centuries until a Babylonian invasion in the 6th century BC

Since then it's been the goal of many adventurers and archaeologists to find it. Most-famously, but also fictitiously, Indiana Jones was shown in the 1981 Steven Spielberg film Raiders of the Lost Ark.

There has also been a long-running claim from the Orthodox Christians of Ethiopia that they have had the Ark for centuries, and since the 1960s it has apparently been kept in the chapel.

This small and curiously-styled building is surrounded by spiked iron railings, and situated between two churches, the old and new, of St Mary of Zion in central Aksum.

No one has been allowed to see the holy object, described in scripture as being made from acacia wood, plated with gold and topped with two golden angels, except one solitary elderly monk, who must watch over the Ark for the remainder of his life, and is never allowed to leave the chapel grounds.

But now the chapel - which was designed by the Ethiopian leader Emperor Hailie Selassie - has had to be covered in a tarpaulin to stop rain getting in.

The water damage could mean the Ark will be moved for the first time in decades giving religious worshippers and adventurers alike a chance to see it.

British photographer Tim Makins, 54, who is a travel photographer for publications like Lonely Planet, discovered the church had sprung a leak whilst travelling through Ethiopia last September.

He believes the moving of the Ark could be one of the best ways to discover if there's any truth in the claims of the East African state.

Tim said: 'During my most recent visit to the church, I was surprised to see some ground adjacent to the ''Chapel of the Tablet'' being cleared and levelled by workmen, and some quantities of building stone being assembled nearby.

'Asking around, I managed to discover that a new temporary chapel is due to be built, and the Ark is to be moved into it while the original chapel is repaired.

'It seems that the builders of the 1960s were not as careful as the builders of centuries past, and the roof of the chapel has developed some serious leaks that now need comprehensive repair work.

'To protect the Ark, a tarpaulin now covers the roof of the chapel but this is just a temporary measure.

'To renovate the building thoroughly, the roof must be stripped back to the bare bones and so a replacement chapel is to be built next door providing a temporary home for it.'

Tim said the construction of the new temporary chapel would take about three months according to workers and religious figures at the site, though he suspects that it will probably take much longer.

He added: 'When the work is finished, the Ark of the Covenant will be carried to its new resting place.'

'That this can be done by the one person allowed to see it is unlikely, as The Bible describes the size of the Ark as 2.5 cubits in length, 1.5 in breadth, and 1.5 in height.
'Cubits in today's measurements translate to about 1.31 metres x 0.79m x 0.79m and it is normally carried on two long wooden poles.

'If it really is this size, and still contains the two stone tablets that list God's Ten Commandments, then the elderly monk will no doubt need some help to transport it.'

Mayans never predicted world to end in 2012: experts

By Pepe Cortes

PALENQUE, Mexico (Reuters) - If you are worried the world will end next year based on the Mayan calendar, relax: the end of time is still far off.

So say Mayan experts who want to dispel any belief that the ancient Mayans predicted a world apocalypse next year.

The Mayan calendar marks the end of a 5,126 year old cycle around December 12, 2012 which should bring the return of Bolon Yokte, a Mayan god associated with war and creation.

Author Jose Arguelles called the date "the ending of time as we know it" in a 1987 book that spawned an army of Mayan theorists, whose speculations on a cataclysmic end abound online. But specialists meeting at this ancient Mayan city in southern Mexico say it merely marks the termination of one period of creation and the beginning of another.

"We have to be clear about this. There is no prophecy for 2012," said Erik Velasquez, an etchings specialist at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM). "It's a marketing fallacy."

The National Institute of Anthropological History in Mexico has been trying to quell the barrage of forecasters predicting the apocalypse. "The West's messianic thinking has distorted the world view of ancient civilizations like the Mayans," the institute said in a statement.

In the Mayan calendar, the long calendar count begins in 3,114 BC and is divided into roughly 394-year periods called Baktuns. Mayans held the number 13 sacred and the 13th Baktun ends next year.

Sven Gronemeyer, a researcher of Mayan codes from La Trobe University in Australia, who has been trying to decode the calendar, said the so-called end day reflects a transition from one era to the next in which Bolon Yokte returns.

"Because Bolon Yokte was already present at the day of creation ... it just seemed natural for the Mayan that Bolon Yokte will again be present," he said.

Of the approximately 15,000 registered glyphic texts found in different parts of what was then the Mayan empire, only two mention 2012, the Institute said.

"The Maya did not think about humanity, global warming or predict the poles would fuse together," said Alfonso Ladena, a professor from the Complutense University of Madrid. "We project our worries on them."

Scientists a step closer to cloning mammoth

Kyodo

YAKUTSK, Russia — The thighbone of a mammoth found in August in Siberia contains well-preserved marrow, increasing the chances of cloning one of the extinct beasts, Japanese and Russian scientists confirmed recently.

The teams from the Sakha Republic's mammoth museum in eastern Russia and Kinki University's graduate school in biology-oriented science and technology will launch full-fledged joint research next year to clone the giant mammal, which is believed to have become extinct about 10,000 years ago, they said.

By transplanting nuclei taken from the marrow cells into elephant egg cells whose nuclei have been removed through a cloning technique, embryos with a mammoth gene could be produced and planted into elephant wombs, as the two species are close relatives, they said.

Securing nuclei with an undamaged gene is essential for the nucleus transplantation technique, but doing so from mammoths is extremely difficult and scientists have been trying to reproduce a mammoth since the late 1990s, they said.

In the Sakha Republic, global warming has thawed its almost permanently frozen ground, leading to numerous discoveries of frozen mammoths. But cell nuclei are usually damaged or have not been kept in a frozen state even when they have been found in a good overall condition, a Russian museum official said.

This time, however, there is a high likelihood that biologically active nuclei can be extracted as the frozen marrow found when museum scientists cut open the thighbone Nov. 13 was fresh and in excellent condition, according to the official. The bone was found near Batagay in northern Sakha.
The technique for extracting nuclei, meanwhile, has improved dramatically in the past few years and some undamaged nuclei have been successfully taken from badly preserved mammoth tissue fragments, albeit at low rates, said the Kinki University team based in Osaka Prefecture.

The museum, located in the republic's capital, Yakutsk, soon notified the Japanese side, with which it has had close ties through joint research since 1997, including professor Akira Iritani and associate professor Hiromi Kato.

Iritani confirmed that the outstanding condition of the marrow has increased the chances of cloning a mammoth, and said the Japanese team will try to obtain elephant eggs for the research project, although he added this would not be easy.