On November 3rd, 2011, Will Heaven wrote for The Telegraph on how the impact of Stuxnet may have been overstated. Noting that Mossad compared Stuxnet's infiltration of the Iranian nuclear program to the cracking of the German Enigma cipher, many viewed Stuxnet as a game-changer, possibly having delayed the Iranian program by three to four years. However, Heaven suggests that the Israelis, a lot of very excited journalists, and perhaps even a few bloggers may have jumped the gun.
The article notes that there have been an increase of news reports indicating possible military action against Iran. Israel is seeking cabinet support for military action. Britain is turning to contingency planning for potential military actions. The US is worried. And Iranian ministers are declaring that their country is ready for war. All of this has, in large part, been driven by news that the Iranian regime is back on track with its nuclear weapons program. The IAEA is set to a release a report next week saying that Iran is attempting to engineer and test nuclear weapons. This raises the question: was Stuxnet's success, reported little over a year ago, vastly overstated?
Heaven argues that many billed Stuxnet as signalling a new era of cyberwar, something that could radically change future conflicts. However, recent political moves from the US, Israel, and Britain suggest that the West won't rely on complex computer codes, but good "old-fashioned bombs and missiles."
The source article can be found here.
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