UPDATED 13:20 EDT / JANUARY 28 2013

Stuxnet Investigation Heats Up, Who is the Pentagon Recruiting? [Breaking Analysis]

The Washington Post has reported that federal investigators looking into leaks of classified information about a cyber operation which targeted Iran’s nuclear program in 2010 have increased pressure on current and former senior government officials. According to SiliconANGLE Contributing Editor John Casaretto, the computer worm, which we know as Stuxnet, was a virus that targeted Iranian centrifuge computers and was able to exploit systems that controlled the centrifuges that were used to develop nuclear fuel resources.

“It’s largely been suspected that it was a nation sponsored effort, and the most likely party being the United States,” he said. Investigators are leaving no stone unturned in their intense research efforts, and nobody is exempt from being questioned. Casaretto speculated the leaks could have come from various parties who may have had top secret clearance, including military contractors, Congress members, and people within the defense structure.

While Casaretto believes leak investigations are fairly common in the presidential administration, he thought that this particular situation involved more of a deliberate leak, in terms of somebody wanting the public to know that the U.S. was behind this. He said they’re using sophisticated software to go through the huge amounts of email, phone records and other data.

“I think . . . we’ll come out with a better security posture altogether,” he predicted on the outcome of the in-depth investigation. He also feels that people will start taking cybersecurity threats more seriously, and will begin to put better security measures in place.

In other cyber security news, according to U.S. officials, the Pentagon will expand its cyber security force from 900 personnel to 4,900 troops and civilians over the next few years. Casaretto shared his view on this move by saying, “I think it’s required with all of these threats . . . there’s so many points of vulnerability.” See the entire segment with Kristin Feledy and John Casaretto on the Morning NewsDesk Show.


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