Stuxnet

Computer worm first discovered in 2010

StuxnetTechnical name| As Stuxnet

* By Microsoft

Worm:Win32/Stuxnet.[Letter]
TrojanDropper:Win32/Stuxnet

* By Symantec

W32.Stuxnet
W32.Stuxnet!lnk

* By Sophos

Troj/Stuxnet-[Letter]
Trojan-Dropper.Win32.Stuxnet.[Letter]
Worm.Win32.Stuxnet.[Letter]
TR/Drop.Stuxnet.[Letter].[Number]

* By Kaspersky

Worm.Win32.Stuxnet

* By F-Secure

Trojan-Dropper:W32/Stuxnet
Rootkit:W32/Stuxnet

* By Trend Micro

RTKT_STUXNET.[Letter]
LNK_STUXNET.[Letter]
WORM_STUXNET.[Letter]

|

Classification| Computer worm
Type| Dropper
Author(s)| Equation Group
Operating system(s) affected|

* Windows 2000
* Windows XP
* Windows Server 2003
* Windows Vista
* Windows Server 2008
* Windows 7
* Windows Server 2008 R2

Source:[1]

Stuxnet is a malicious computer worm first uncovered in 2010 and thought to have been in development since at least 2005. Stuxnet targets supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) systems and is believed to be responsible for causing substantial damage to the nuclear program of Iran.[2] Although neither country has openly admitted responsibility, multiple independent news organizations recognize Stuxnet to be a cyberweapon built jointly by the United States and Israel in a collaborative effort known as Operation Olympic Games.[3][4][5] The program, started during the Bush administration, was rapidly expanded within the first months of Barack Obama's presidency.[6]

Stuxnet specifically targets programmable logic controllers (PLCs), which allow the automation of electromechanical processes such as those used to control machinery and industrial processes including gas centrifuges for separating nuclear material. Exploiting four zero-day flaws,[7] Stuxnet functions by targeting machines using the Microsoft Windows operating system and networks, then seeking out Siemens Step7 software. Stuxnet reportedly compromised Iranian PLCs, collecting information on industrial systems and causing the fast-spinning centrifuges to tear themselves apart.[2] Stuxnet's design and architecture are not domain-specific and it could be tailored as a platform for attacking modern SCADA and PLC systems (e.g., in factory assembly lines or power plants), most of which are in Europe, Japan, and the United States.[8] Stuxnet reportedly ruined almost one-fifth of Iran's nuclear centrifuges.[9] Targeting industrial control systems, the worm infected over 200,000 computers and caused 1,000 machines to physically degrade.[10]

Stuxnet has three modules: a worm that executes all routines related to the main payload of the attack; a link file that automatically executes the propagated copies of the worm; and a rootkit component responsible for hiding all malicious files and processes, to prevent detection of Stuxnet.[11] It is typically introduced to the target environment via an infected USB flash drive, thus crossing any air gap. The worm then propagates across the network, scanning for Siemens Step7 software on computers controlling a PLC. In the absence of either criterion, Stuxnet becomes dormant inside the computer. If both the conditions are fulfilled, Stuxnet introduces the infected rootkit onto the PLC and Step7 software, modifying the code and giving unexpected commands to the PLC while returning a loop of normal operation system values back to the users.[12][13]

## Discovery[edit]

Stuxnet, discovered by Sergey Ulasen, initially spread via Microsoft Windows, and targeted Siemens industrial control systems. While it is not the first time that hackers have targeted industrial systems,[14] nor the first publicly known intentional act of cyberwarfare to be implemented, it is the first discovered malware that spies on and subverts industrial systems,[15] and the first to include a programmable logic controller (PLC) rootkit.[16][17]

The worm initially spreads indiscriminately, but includes a highly specialized malware payload that is designed to target only Siemens supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) systems that are configured to control and monitor specific industrial processes.[18][19] Stuxnet infects PLCs by subverting the Step-7 software application that is used to reprogram these devices.[20][21]

Different variants of Stuxnet targeted five Iranian organizations,[22] with the probable target widely suspected to be uranium enrichment infrastructure in Iran;[21][23][24] Symantec noted in August 2010 that 60% of the infected computers worldwide were in Iran.[25] Siemens stated that the worm has caused no damage to its customers,[15] but the Iran nuclear program, which uses embargoed Siemens equipment procured secretly, has been damaged by Stuxnet.[26][27][28] Kaspersky Lab concluded that the sophisticated attack could only have been conducted "with nation-state support."[29] F-Secure's chief researcher Mikko Hyppönen, when asked if possible nation-state support was involved, agreed "That's what it would look like, yes."[30]

In May 2011, the PBS program Need To Know cited a statement by Gary Samore, White House Coordinator for Arms Control and Weapons of Mass Destruction, in which he said, "we're glad they [the Iranians] are having trouble with their centrifuge machine and that we – the U.S. and its allies – are doing everything we can to make sure that we complicate matters for them," offering "winking acknowledgement" of United States involvement in Stuxnet.[31] According to The Daily Telegraph, a showreel that was played at a retirement party for the head of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), Gabi Ashkenazi, included references to Stuxnet as one of his operational successes as the IDF chief of staff.[32]

On 1 June 2012, an article in The New York Times said that Stuxnet is part of a US and Israeli intelligence operation named Operation Olympic Games, devised by the NSA under President George W. Bush and executed under President Barack Obama.[33]

On 24 July 2012, an article by Chris Matyszczyk from CNET[34] reported how the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran e-mailed F-Secure's chief research officer Mikko Hyppönen to report a new instance of malware.

On 25 December 2012, an Iranian semi-official news agency announced there was a cyberattack by Stuxnet, this time on the industries in the southern area of the country. The malware targeted a power plant and some other industries in Hormozgan province in recent months.[35]

According to expert Eugene Kaspersky, the worm also infected a nuclear power plant in Russia. Kaspersky noted, however, that since the power plant is not connected to the public Internet, the system should remain safe.[36]

## History[edit]

The worm was at first identified by the security company VirusBlokAda in mid-June 2010.[20] Journalist Brian Krebs's blog posting on 15 July 2010 was the first widely read report on the worm.[37][38] The original name given by VirusBlokAda was "Rootkit.Tmphider;"[39] Symantec however called it "W32.Temphid," later changing to "W32.Stuxnet."[40] Its current name is derived from a combination of some keywords in the software (".stub" and "mrxnet.sys").[41][42] The reason for the discovery at this time is attributed to the virus accidentally spreading beyond its intended target (the Natanz plant) due to a programming error introduced in an update; this led to the worm spreading to an engineer's computer that had been connected to the centrifuges, and spreading further when the engineer returned home and connected his computer to the internet.[33]

Kaspersky Lab experts at first estimated that Stuxnet started spreading around March or April 2010,[43] but the first variant of the worm appeared in June 2009.[20] On 15 July 2010, the day the worm's existence became widely known, a distributed denial-of-service attack was made on the servers for two leading mailing lists on industrial-systems security. This attack, from an unknown source but likely related to Stuxnet, disabled one of the lists, thereby interrupting an important source of information for power plants and factories.[38] On the other hand, researchers at Symantec have uncovered a version of the Stuxnet computer virus that was used to attack Iran's nuclear program in November 2007, being developed as early as 2005, when Iran was still setting up its uranium enrichment facility.[44]

The second variant, with substantial improvements, appeared in March 2010, apparently because its authors believed that Stuxnet was not spreading fast enough; a third, with minor improvements, appeared in April 2010.[38] The worm contains a component with a build time-stamp from 3 February 2010.[45] In the United Kingdom on 25 November 2010, Sky News reported that it had received information from an anonymous source at an unidentified IT security organization that Stuxnet, or a variation of the worm, had been traded on the black market.[46]

In 2015, Kaspersky Lab noted that the Equation Group had used two of the same zero-day attacks prior to their use in Stuxnet, in another malware called fanny.bmp.[47][48] and commented that "the similar type of usage of both exploits together in different computer worms, at around the same time, indicates that the Equation Group and the Stuxnet developers are either the same or working closely together".[49]

In 2019, Chronicle researchers Juan Andres Guerrero-Saade and Silas Cutler presented evidence of at least four distinct threat actor malware platforms collaborating to create the different versions of Stuxnet.[50][51] The collaboration was dubbed 'GOSSIP GIRL' after a threat group leaked from classified CSE slides that included Flame.[52] GOSSIP GIRL is a cooperative umbrella that includes the Equation Group, Flame, Duqu, and Flowershop (also known as 'Cheshire Cat').[53][54][55]

In 2020, researcher Facundo Muñoz found evidence suggesting that Equation Group collaborated with Stuxnet developers in 2009 by lending them at least one zero-day exploit,[56] and one exploit from 2008[57] that was being actively used in-the-wild by the Conficker computer worm and Chinese hackers.[58] In 2017, a group of hackers known as The Shadow Brokers leaked a massive trove of tools belonging to Equation Group, including new versions of both exploits compiled in 2010, showing significant code overlaps as both Stuxnet's exploits and Equation Group's exploits were developed using a set of libraries called "Exploit Development Framework" also leaked by The Shadow Brokers.

## Affected countries[edit]

A study of the spread of Stuxnet by Symantec showed that the main affected countries in the early days of the infection were Iran, Indonesia and India:[59]

Country  | Share of infected computers

|

Iran  | 58.9%
Indonesia  | 18.2%
India  | 8.3%
Azerbaijan  | 2.6%
United States  | 1.6%
Pakistan  | 1.3%
Other countries  | 9.2%

Iran was reported to have fortified its cyberwar abilities following the Stuxnet attack, and has been suspected of retaliatory attacks against United States banks in Operation Ababil.[60]

## Operation[edit]

Unlike most malware, Stuxnet does little harm to computers and networks that do not meet specific configuration requirements; "The attackers took great care to make sure that only their designated targets were hit ... It was a marksman's job."[61] While the worm is promiscuous, it makes itself inert if Siemens software is not found on infected computers, and contains safeguards to prevent each infected computer from spreading the worm to more than three others, and to erase itself on 24 June 2012.[38]

For its targets, Stuxnet contains, among other things, code for a man-in-the-middle attack that fakes industrial process control sensor signals so an infected system does not shut down due to detected abnormal behavior.[38][61][62] Such complexity is very unusual for malware. The worm consists of a layered attack against three different systems:

1. The Windows operating system,
2. Siemens PCS 7, WinCC and STEP7 industrial software applications that run on Windows and
3. One or more Siemens S7 PLCs.

### Windows infection[edit]

Stuxnet attacked Windows systems using an unprecedented four zero-day attacks (plus the CPLINK vulnerability and a vulnerability used by the Conficker worm[63]). It is initially spread using infected removable drives such as USB flash drives,[21][45] which contain Windows shortcut files to initiate executable code.[64] The worm then uses other exploits and techniques such as peer-to-peer remote procedure call (RPC) to infect and update other computers inside private networks that are not directly connected to the Internet.[65][66][67] The number of zero-day exploits used is unusual, as they are highly valued and malware creators do not typically make use of (and thus simultaneously make visible) four different zero-day exploits in the same worm.[23] Amongst these exploits were remote code execution on a computer with Printer Sharing enabled,[68] and the LNK/PIF vulnerability,[69] in which file execution is accomplished when an icon is viewed in Windows Explorer, negating the need for user interaction.[70] Stuxnet is unusually large at half a megabyte in size,[65] and written in several different programming languages (including C and C++) which is also irregular for malware.[15][20][62] The Windows component of the malware is promiscuous in that it spreads relatively quickly and indiscriminately.[45]

The malware has both user mode and kernel mode rootkit ability under Windows,[67] and its device drivers have been digitally signed with the private keys of two public key certificates that were stolen from separate well-known companies, JMicron and Realtek, both located at Hsinchu Science Park in Taiwan.[45][65] The driver signing helped it install kernel mode rootkit drivers successfully without users being notified, and thus it remained undetected for a relatively long period of time.[71] Both compromised certificates have been revoked by Verisign.

Two websites in Denmark and Malaysia were configured as command and control servers for the malware, allowing it to be updated, and for industrial espionage to be conducted by uploading information. Both of these domain names have subsequently been redirected by their DNS service provider to Dynadot as part of a global effort to disable the malware.[67][38]

### Step 7 software infection[edit]

Overview of normal communications between Step 7 and a Siemens PLC Overview of Stuxnet hijacking communication between Step 7 software and a Siemens PLC

According to researcher Ralph Langner,[72][73] once installed on a Windows system, Stuxnet infects project files belonging to Siemens' WinCC/PCS 7 SCADA control software[74] (Step 7), and subverts a key communication library of WinCC called `s7otbxdx.dll`. Doing so intercepts communications between the WinCC software running under Windows and the target Siemens PLC devices, when the two are connected via a data cable. The malware is able to modify the code on PLC devices unnoticed, and subsequently to mask its presence from WinCC if the control software attempts to read an infected block of memory from the PLC system.[67]

The malware furthermore used a zero-day exploit in the WinCC/SCADA database software in the form of a hard-coded database password.[75]

### PLC infection[edit]

Siemens Simatic S7-300 PLC CPU with three I/O modules attached

Stuxnet's payload targets only those SCADA configurations that meet criteria that it is programmed to identify.[38]

Stuxnet requires specific slave variable-frequency drives (frequency converter drives) to be attached to the targeted Siemens S7-300 system and its associated modules. It only attacks those PLC systems with variable-frequency drives from two specific vendors: Vacon based in Finland and Fararo Paya based in Iran.[76] Furthermore, it monitors the frequency of the attached motors, and only attacks systems that spin between 807 Hz and 1,210 Hz. This is a much higher frequency than motors typically operate at in most industrial applications, with the notable exception of gas centrifuges.[76] Stuxnet installs malware into memory block DB890 of the PLC that monitors the Profibus messaging bus of the system.[67] When certain criteria are met, it periodically modifies the frequency to 1,410 Hz and then to 2 Hz and then to 1,064 Hz, and thus affects the operation of the connected motors by changing their rotational speed.[76] It also installs a rootkit – the first such documented case on this platform – that hides the malware on the system and masks the changes in rotational speed from monitoring systems.

## Removal[edit]

Siemens has released a detection and removal tool for Stuxnet. Siemens recommends contacting customer support if an infection is detected and advises installing Microsoft updates for security vulnerabilities and prohibiting the use of third-party USB flash drives.[77] Siemens also advises immediately upgrading password access codes.[78]

The worm's ability to reprogram external PLCs may complicate the removal procedure. Symantec's Liam O'Murchu warns that fixing Windows systems may not fully solve the infection; a thorough audit of PLCs may be necessary. Despite speculation that incorrect removal of the worm could cause damage,[15] Siemens reports that in the first four months since discovery, the malware was successfully removed from the systems of 22 customers without any adverse effects.[77][79]

## Control system security[edit]

Main article: Control system security

Prevention of control system security incidents,[80] such as from viral infections like Stuxnet, is a topic that is being addressed in both the public and the private sector.

The US Department of Homeland Security National Cyber Security Division (NCSD) operates the Control System Security Program (CSSP).[81] The program operates a specialized computer emergency response team called the Industrial Control Systems Cyber Emergency Response Team (ICS-CERT), conducts a biannual conference (ICSJWG), provides training, publishes recommended practices, and provides a self-assessment tool. As part of a Department of Homeland Security plan to improve American computer security, in 2008 it and the Idaho National Laboratory (INL) worked with Siemens to identify security holes in the company's widely used Process Control System 7 (PCS 7) and its software Step 7. In July 2008, INL and Siemens publicly announced flaws in the control system at a Chicago conference; Stuxnet exploited these holes in 2009.[61]

Several industry organizations[82][83] and professional societies[84][85] have published standards and best practice guidelines providing direction and guidance for control system end-users on how to establish a control system security management program. The basic premise that all of these documents share is that prevention requires a multi-layered approach, often termed defense in depth.[86] The layers include policies and procedures, awareness and training, network segmentation, access control measures, physical security measures, system hardening, e.g., patch management, and system monitoring, anti-virus and intrusion prevention system (IPS). The standards and best practices[who?] also all[improper synthesis?] recommend starting with a risk analysis and a control system security assessment.[87][88]

## Target and origin[edit]

This section needs to be updated. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information. (December 2017)

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Experts believe that Stuxnet required the largest and costliest development effort in malware history.[38] Developing its many abilities would have required a team of highly capable programmers, in-depth knowledge of industrial processes, and an interest in attacking industrial infrastructure.[15][20] Eric Byres, who has years of experience maintaining and troubleshooting Siemens systems, told Wired that writing the code would have taken many man-months, if not man-years.[65] Symantec estimates that the group developing Stuxnet would have consisted of between five and thirty people, and would have taken six months to prepare.[89][38] The Guardian, the BBC and The New York Times all claimed that (unnamed) experts studying Stuxnet believe the complexity of the code indicates that only a nation-state would have the abilities to produce it.[23][89][90] The self-destruct and other safeguards within the code implied that a Western government was responsible, or at least is responsible for its development.[38] However, software security expert Bruce Schneier initially condemned the 2010 news coverage of Stuxnet as hype, stating that it was almost entirely based on speculation.[91] But after subsequent research, Schneier stated in 2012 that "we can now conclusively link Stuxnet to the centrifuge structure at the Natanz nuclear enrichment lab in Iran".[92]

### Iran as a target[edit]

Ralph Langner, the researcher who identified that Stuxnet infected PLCs,[21] first speculated publicly in September 2010 that the malware was of Israeli origin, and that it targeted Iranian nuclear facilities.[93] However Langner more recently, at a TED conference, recorded in February 2011, stated that, "My opinion is that the Mossad is involved, but that the leading force is not Israel. The leading force behind Stuxnet is the cyber superpower – there is only one; and that's the United States."[94] Kevin Hogan, Senior Director of Security Response at Symantec, reported that most infected systems were in Iran (about 60%),[95] which has led to speculation that it may have been deliberately targeting "high-value infrastructure" in Iran[23] including either the Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant or the Natanz nuclear facility.[65][96][97] Langner called the malware "a one-shot weapon" and said that the intended target was probably hit,[98] although he admitted this was speculation.[65] Another German researcher and spokesman of the German-based Chaos Computer Club, Frank Rieger, was the first to speculate that Natanz was the target.[38]

#### Natanz nuclear facilities[edit]

Anti-aircraft guns guarding Natanz Nuclear Facility

According to the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, in September 2010 experts on Iran and computer security specialists were increasingly convinced that Stuxnet was meant "to sabotage the uranium enrichment facility at Natanz – where the centrifuge operational capacity had dropped over the past year by 30 percent."[99] On 23 November 2010 it was announced that uranium enrichment at Natanz had ceased several times because of a series of major technical problems.[100] A "serious nuclear accident" (supposedly the shutdown of some of its centrifuges[101]) occurred at the site in the first half of 2009, which is speculated to have forced Gholam Reza Aghazadeh, the head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI), to resign.[102] Statistics published by the Federation of American Scientists (FAS) show that the number of enrichment centrifuges operational in Iran mysteriously declined from about 4,700 to about 3,900 beginning around the time the nuclear incident WikiLeaks mentioned would have occurred.[103] The Institute for Science and International Security (ISIS) suggests, in a report published in December 2010, that Stuxnet is a reasonable explanation for the apparent damage[104] at Natanz, and may have destroyed up to 1,000 centrifuges (10 percent) sometime between November 2009 and late January 2010. The authors conclude:

> The attacks seem designed to force a change in the centrifuge’s rotor speed, first raising the speed and then lowering it, likely with the intention of inducing excessive vibrations or distortions that would destroy the centrifuge. If its goal was to quickly destroy all the centrifuges in the FEP [Fuel Enrichment Plant], Stuxnet failed. But if the goal was to destroy a more limited number of centrifuges and set back Iran’s progress in operating the FEP, while making detection difficult, it may have succeeded, at least temporarily.[104]

The Institute for Science and International Security (ISIS) report further notes that Iranian authorities have attempted to conceal the breakdown by installing new centrifuges on a large scale.[104][105]

The worm worked by first causing an infected Iranian IR-1 centrifuge to increase from its normal operating speed of 1,064 hertz to 1,410 hertz for 15 minutes before returning to its normal frequency. Twenty-seven days later, the worm went back into action, slowing the infected centrifuges down to a few hundred hertz for a full 50 minutes. The stresses from the excessive, then slower, speeds caused the aluminium centrifugal tubes to expand, often forcing parts of the centrifuges into sufficient contact with each other to destroy the machine.[106]

According to The Washington Post, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) cameras installed in the Natanz facility recorded the sudden dismantling and removal of approximately 900–1,000 centrifuges during the time the Stuxnet worm was reportedly active at the plant. Iranian technicians, however, were able to quickly replace the centrifuges and the report concluded that uranium enrichment was likely only briefly disrupted.[107]

On 15 February 2011, the Institute for Science and International Security released a report concluding that:

> Assuming Iran exercises caution, Stuxnet is unlikely to destroy more centrifuges at the Natanz plant. Iran likely cleaned the malware from its control systems. To prevent re-infection, Iran will have to exercise special caution since so many computers in Iran contain Stuxnet. Although Stuxnet appears to be designed to destroy centrifuges at the Natanz facility, destruction was by no means total. Moreover, Stuxnet did not lower the production of low enriched uranium (LEU) during 2010. LEU quantities could have certainly been greater, and Stuxnet could be an important part of the reason why they did not increase significantly. Nonetheless, there remain important questions about why Stuxnet destroyed only 1,000 centrifuges. One observation is that it may be harder to destroy centrifuges by use of cyber attacks than often believed.[108]

#### Iranian reaction[edit]

The Associated Press reported that the semi-official Iranian Students News Agency released a statement on 24 September 2010 stating that experts from the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran met in the previous week to discuss how Stuxnet could be removed from their systems.[19] According to analysts, such as David Albright, Western intelligence agencies had been attempting to sabotage the Iranian nuclear program for some time.[109][110]

The head of the Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant told Reuters that only the personal computers of staff at the plant had been infected by Stuxnet and the state-run newspaper Iran Daily quoted Reza Taghipour, Iran's telecommunications minister, as saying that it had not caused "serious damage to government systems".[90] The Director of Information Technology Council at the Iranian Ministry of Industries and Mines, Mahmud Liaii, has said that: "An electronic war has been launched against Iran... This computer worm is designed to transfer data about production lines from our industrial plants to locations outside Iran."[111]

In response to the infection, Iran assembled a team to combat it. With more than 30,000 IP addresses affected in Iran, an official said that the infection was fast spreading in Iran and the problem had been compounded by the ability of Stuxnet to mutate. Iran had set up its own systems to clean up infections and had advised against using the Siemens SCADA antivirus since it is suspected that the antivirus contains embedded code which updates Stuxnet instead of removing it.[112][113][114][115]

According to Hamid Alipour, deputy head of Iran's government Information Technology Company, "The attack is still ongoing and new versions of this virus are spreading." He reported that his company had begun the cleanup process at Iran's "sensitive centres and organizations."[113] "We had anticipated that we could root out the virus within one to two months, but the virus is not stable, and since we started the cleanup process three new versions of it have been spreading", he told the Islamic Republic News Agency on 27 September 2010.[115]

On 29 November 2010, Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad stated for the first time that a computer virus had caused problems with the controller handling the centrifuges at its Natanz facilities. According to Reuters, he told reporters at a news conference in Tehran, "They succeeded in creating problems for a limited number of our centrifuges with the software they had installed in electronic parts."[116][117]

On the same day two Iranian nuclear scientists were targeted in separate, but nearly simultaneous car bomb attacks near Shahid Beheshti University in Tehran. Majid Shahriari, a quantum physicist, was killed. Fereydoon Abbasi, a high-ranking official at the Ministry of Defense was seriously wounded. Wired speculated that the assassinations could indicate that whoever was behind Stuxnet felt that it was not sufficient to stop the nuclear program.[118] That same Wired article suggested the Iranian government could have been behind the assassinations.[118] In January 2010, another Iranian nuclear scientist, a physics professor at Tehran University, was killed in a similar bomb explosion.[118] On 11 January 2012, a director of the Natanz nuclear enrichment facility, Mostafa Ahmadi Roshan, was killed in an attack quite similar to the one that killed Shahriari.[119]

An analysis by the FAS demonstrates that Iran's enrichment capacity grew during 2010. The study indicated that Iran's centrifuges appeared to be performing 60% better than in the previous year, which would significantly reduce Tehran's time to produce bomb-grade uranium. The FAS report was reviewed by an official with the IAEA who affirmed the study.[120][121][122]

European and US officials, along with private experts, told Reuters that Iranian engineers were successful in neutralizing and purging Stuxnet from their country's nuclear machinery.[123]

Given the growth in Iranian enrichment ability in 2010, the country may have intentionally put out misinformation to cause Stuxnet's creators to believe that the worm was more successful in disabling the Iranian nuclear program than it actually was.[38]

#### Israel[edit]

Israel, through Unit 8200,[124][125] has been speculated to be the country behind Stuxnet in many media reports[89][101][126] and by experts such as Richard A. Falkenrath, former Senior Director for Policy and Plans within the US Office of Homeland Security.[127][90] Yossi Melman, who covers intelligence for Israeli newspaper Haaretz and wrote a book about Israeli intelligence, also suspected that Israel was involved, noting that Meir Dagan, the former (up until 2011) head of the national intelligence agency Mossad, had his term extended in 2009 because he was said to be involved in important projects. Additionally, in 2010 Israel grew to expect that Iran would have a nuclear weapon in 2014 or 2015 – at least three years later than earlier estimates – without the need for an Israeli military attack on Iranian nuclear facilities; "They seem to know something, that they have more time than originally thought", he added.[27][61] Israel has not publicly commented on the Stuxnet attack but in 2010 confirmed that cyberwarfare was now among the pillars of its defense doctrine, with a military intelligence unit set up to pursue both defensive and offensive options.[128][129][130] When questioned whether Israel was behind the virus in the fall of 2010, some Israeli officials[who?] broke into "wide smiles", fueling speculation that the government of Israel was involved with its genesis.[131] American presidential advisor Gary Samore also smiled when Stuxnet was mentioned,[61] although American officials have suggested that the virus originated abroad.[131] According to The Telegraph, Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported that a video celebrating operational successes of Gabi Ashkenazi, retiring Israel Defense Forces (IDF) Chief of Staff, was shown at his retirement party and included references to Stuxnet, thus strengthening claims that Israel's security forces were responsible.[132]

In 2009, a year before Stuxnet was discovered, Scott Borg of the United States Cyber-Consequences Unit (US-CCU)[133] suggested that Israel may prefer to mount a cyberattack rather than a military strike on Iran's nuclear facilities.[110] In late 2010 Borg stated, "Israel certainly has the ability to create Stuxnet and there is little downside to such an attack because it would be virtually impossible to prove who did it. So a tool like Stuxnet is Israel's obvious weapon of choice."[134] Iran uses P-1 centrifuges at Natanz, the design for which A. Q. Khan stole in 1976 and took to Pakistan. His black market nuclear-proliferation network sold P-1s to, among other customers, Iran. Experts believe that Israel also somehow acquired P-1s and tested Stuxnet on the centrifuges, installed at the Dimona facility that is part of its own nuclear program.[61] The equipment may be from the United States, which received P-1s from Libya's former nuclear program.[135][61]

Some have also cited several clues in the code such as a concealed reference to the word MYRTUS, believed to refer to the Latin name myrtus of the Myrtle tree, which in Hebrew is called hadassah. Hadassah was the birth name of the former Jewish queen of Persia, Queen Esther.[136][137] However, it may be that the "MYRTUS" reference is simply a misinterpreted reference to SCADA components known as RTUs (Remote Terminal Units) and that this reference is actually "My RTUs"–a management feature of SCADA.[138] Also, the number 19790509 appears once in the code and may refer to the date 1979 May 09, the day Habib Elghanian, a Persian Jew, was executed in Tehran.[67][139][140] Another date that appears in the code is "24 September 2007", the day that Iran's president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad spoke at Columbia University and made comments questioning the validity of the Holocaust.[38] Such data is not conclusive, since, as noted by Symantec, "...attackers would have the natural desire to implicate another party".[67]

#### United States[edit]

There has also been reports on the involvement of the United States and its collaboration with Israel,[141][142] with one report stating that "there is vanishingly little doubt that [it] played a role in creating the worm."[38] It has been reported that the United States, under one of its most secret programs, initiated by the Bush administration and accelerated by the Obama administration,[143] has sought to destroy Iran's nuclear program by novel methods such as undermining Iranian computer systems. A leaked diplomatic cable showed how the United States was advised to target Iran's nuclear abilities through 'covert sabotage'.[144] An article in The New York Times in January 2009 credited a then-unspecified program with preventing an Israeli military attack on Iran where some of the efforts focused on ways to destabilize the centrifuges.[145] A Wired article claimed that Stuxnet "is believed to have been created by the United States".[146] Dutch historian Peter Koop speculated that the Tailored Access Operations could have developed Stuxnet, possibly in collaboration with Israel.[147]

The fact that John Bumgarner, a former intelligence officer and member of the United States Cyber-Consequences Unit (US-CCU), published an article prior to Stuxnet being discovered or deciphered, that outlined a strategic cyber strike on centrifuges[148] and suggests that cyber attacks are permissible against nation states which are operating uranium enrichment programs that violate international treaties gives some credibility to these claims. Bumgarner pointed out that the centrifuges used to process fuel for nuclear weapons are a key target for cybertage operations and that they can be made to destroy themselves by manipulating their rotational speeds.[149]

In a March 2012 interview with 60 Minutes, retired US Air Force General Michael Hayden – who served as director of both the Central Intelligence Agency and National Security Agency – while denying knowledge of who created Stuxnet said that he believed it had been "a good idea" but that it carried a downside in that it had legitimized the use of sophisticated cyber weapons designed to cause physical damage. Hayden said, "There are those out there who can take a look at this... and maybe even attempt to turn it to their own purposes". In the same report, Sean McGurk, a former cybersecurity official at the Department of Homeland Security noted that the Stuxnet source code could now be downloaded online and modified to be directed at new target systems. Speaking of the Stuxnet creators, he said, "They opened the box. They demonstrated the capability... It's not something that can be put back."[150]

#### Joint effort and other states and targets[edit]

This section needs to be updated. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information. (June 2012)

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In April 2011, Iranian government official Gholam Reza Jalali stated that an investigation had concluded that the United States and Israel were behind the Stuxnet attack.[151] Frank Rieger stated that three European countries' intelligence agencies agreed that Stuxnet was a joint United States-Israel effort. The code for the Windows injector and the PLC payload differ in style, likely implying collaboration. Other experts believe that a US-Israel cooperation is unlikely because "the level of trust between the two countries' intelligence and military establishments is not high."[38]

A Wired magazine article about US General Keith B. Alexander stated: "And he and his cyber warriors have already launched their first attack. The cyber weapon that came to be known as Stuxnet was created and built by the NSA in partnership with the CIA and Israeli intelligence in the mid-2000s."[152]

China,[153] Jordan, and France are other possibilities, and Siemens may have also participated.[38][141] Langner speculated that the infection may have spread from USB drives belonging to Russian contractors since the Iranian targets were not accessible via the Internet.[21][154] In 2019, it was reported that an Iranian mole working for Dutch intelligence at the behest of Israel and the CIA inserted the Stuxnet virus with a USB flash drive or convinced another person working at the Natanz facility to do so.[155][156]

Sandro Gaycken from the Free University Berlin argued that the attack on Iran was a ruse to distract from Stuxnet's real purpose. According to him, its broad dissemination in more than 100,000 industrial plants worldwide suggests a field test of a cyber weapon in different security cultures, testing their preparedness, resilience, and reactions, all highly valuable information for a cyberwar unit.[157]

The United Kingdom has denied involvement in the worm's creation.[158]

In July 2013, Edward Snowden claimed that Stuxnet was cooperatively developed by the United States and Israel.[159]

### Deployment in North Korea[edit]

According to a report by Reuters, the NSA also tried to sabotage North Korea's nuclear program using a version of Stuxnet. The operation was reportedly launched in tandem with the attack that targeted Iranian centrifuges in 2009–10. The North Korean nuclear program shares many similarities with the Iranian, both having been developed with technology transferred by Pakistani nuclear scientist A.Q. Khan. The effort failed, however, because North Korea's extreme secrecy and isolation made it impossible to introduce Stuxnet into the nuclear facility.[160]

### Stuxnet 2.0 cyberattack[edit]

In 2018, Gholamreza Jalali, Iran's chief of the National Passive Defence Organisation (NPDO), claimed that his country fended off a Stuxnet-like attack targeting the country's telecom infrastructure. Iran's Telecommunications minister Mohammad-Javad Azari Jahromi has since accused Israel of orchestrating the attack. Iran plans to sue Israel through the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and is also willing to launch a retaliation attack if Israel does not desist.[161]

## Related malware[edit]

### "Stuxnet's Secret Twin"[edit]

A November 2013 article[162] in Foreign Policy magazine claims existence of an earlier, much more sophisticated attack on the centrifuge complex at Natanz, focused on increasing centrifuge failure rate over a long time period by stealthily inducing uranium hexafluoride gas overpressure incidents. This malware was capable of spreading only by being physically installed, probably by previously contaminated field equipment used by contractors working on Siemens control systems within the complex. It is not clear whether this attack attempt was successful, but it being followed by a different, simpler and more conventional attack is indicative.

### Duqu[edit]

Main article: Duqu

On 1 September 2011, a new worm was found, thought to be related to Stuxnet. The Laboratory of Cryptography and System Security (CrySyS) of the Budapest University of Technology and Economics analyzed the malware, naming the threat Duqu.[163][164] Symantec, based on this report, continued the analysis of the threat, calling it "nearly identical to Stuxnet, but with a completely different purpose", and published a detailed technical paper.[165] The main component used in Duqu is designed to capture information[62] such as keystrokes and system information. The exfiltrated data may be used to enable a future Stuxnet-like attack. On 28 December 2011, Kaspersky Lab's director of global research and analysis spoke to Reuters about recent research results showing that the platform Stuxnet and Duqu both originated in 2007, and is being referred to as Tilded due to the ~d at the beginning of the file names. Also uncovered in this research was the possibility for three more variants based on the Tilded platform.[166]

### Flame[edit]

Main article: Flame (malware)

In May 2012, the new malware "Flame" was found, thought to be related to Stuxnet.[167] Researchers named the program "Flame" after the name of one of its modules.[167] After analysing the code of Flame, Kaspersky Lab said that there is a strong relationship between Flame and Stuxnet. An early version of Stuxnet contained code to propagate infections via USB drives that is nearly identical to a Flame module that exploits the same vulnerability.[168]

### Targeting military command, control, communications and intelligence[edit]

Former U.S. Secretary of Defense William J. Perry and Tom Z. Collina, Director of Policy at the Ploughshares Fund, wrote that there are thousands and maybe millions of attacks each day on the U.S. military's use of the internet and similar DoD-only communications. If a cybersecurity attack on any nuclear-weapon state does what the U.S. and Israel reportedly did to Iran with Stuxnet, it could convince the leaders of that country that they were being attacked with nuclear weapons when they weren't. This could lead them to start a nuclear war by mistake, believing that they could lose the ability to respond appropriately if they waited for more information.[169]

If the country targeted with such a cybersecurity attack were India or Pakistan, the resulting nuclear war would likely produce a nuclear autumn during which roughly a quarter of humanity, most of whom were not directly impacted by nuclear explosions, could starve to death if they did not die of something else sooner.[170] If the United States, Russia or China (or maybe even the United Kingdom or France) experienced such a cybersecurity attack, the resulting nuclear war would likely produce a nuclear winter, during which 98 percent of humanity would die of starvation if they did not succumb to something else sooner.[171][relevant?]

Perry and Collina also noted that a nuclear war by accident is much more likely than Russia launching a first strike on the United States. They claimed that the world's major nuclear arsenals are focusing on the wrong problem. They cited several sources to support this claim including a GAO study that found that many advanced weapon systems in the U.S. use commercial and free software without changing the default passwords. Hackers working for the GAO were able to penetrate DoD systems undetected in part using default passwords found on the internet.[172][relevant?]

## Media coverage[edit]

Since 2010, there has been extensive international media coverage on Stuxnet and its aftermath. In early commentary, The Economist pointed out that Stuxnet was "a new kind of cyber-attack."[173] On 8 July 2011, Wired then published an article detailing how network security experts were able to decipher the origins of Stuxnet. In that piece, Kim Zetter claimed that Stuxnet's "cost–benefit ratio is still in question."[174] Later commentators tended to focus on the strategic significance of Stuxnet as a cyber weapon. Following the Wired piece, Holger Stark called Stuxnet the "first digital weapon of geopolitical importance, it could change the way wars are fought."[175] Meanwhile, Eddie Walsh referred to Stuxnet as "the world's newest high-end asymmetric threat."[176] Ultimately, some claim that the "extensive media coverage afforded to Stuxnet has only served as an advertisement for the vulnerabilities used by various cybercriminal groups."[177] While that may be the case, the media coverage has also increased awareness of cyber security threats.

Alex Gibney's 2016 documentary Zero Days covers the phenomenon around Stuxnet.[178] A zero-day (also known as 0-day) vulnerability is a computer-software vulnerability that is unknown to, or unaddressed by, those who should be interested in mitigating the vulnerability (including the vendor of the target software). Until the vulnerability is mitigated, hackers can exploit it to adversely affect computer programs, data, additional computers or a network.

In 2016, it was revealed that General James Cartwright, the former head of the U.S. Strategic Command, had leaked information related to Stuxnet. He later pleaded guilty for lying to FBI agents pursuing an investigation into the leak.[179][180] On 17 January 2017, he was granted a full pardon in this case by President Obama, thus expunging his conviction.

## In popular culture[edit]

Besides the aforementioned Alex Gibney documentary Zero Days (2016), which looks into the malware and the cyberwarfare surrounding it, other works which reference Stuxnet include:

* In Castle, season 8, episode 18 "Backstabber" Stuxnet is revealed to have been (fictionally) created by MI6, and a version of it is used to take down the London power grid.
* Trojan Horse is a novel written by Windows utility writer and novelist Mark Russinovich. It features the usage of the Stuxnet virus as a main plot line for the story, and the attempt of Iran to bypass it.
* In Ghost in the Shell: Arise, Stuxnet is the named type of computer virus which infected Kusanagi and Manamura allowing false memories to be implanted.
* In July 2017, MRSA (Mat Zo) released a track named "Stuxnet" through Hospital Records.
* In Ubisoft's 2013 video game Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Blacklist, the protagonist, Sam Fisher, makes use of a mobile, airborne headquarters ("Paladin") which is said at one point within the game's story mode to have been targeted by a Stuxnet-style virus, causing its systems to fail and the plane to careen towards the ocean, and would have crashed without Fisher's intervening.[181]
* In Michael Mann's 2015 movie Blackhat, the code shown as belonging to a virus used by a hacker to cause the coolant pumps explosion in a nuclear plant in Chai Wan, Hong Kong, is actual Stuxnet decompiled code.
* In the third episode of Star Trek: Discovery, "Context Is for Kings", characters identify a segment of code as being part of an experimental transportation system. The code shown is decompiled Stuxnet code.[182] Much of the same code is shown in the eighth episode of The Expanse, "Pyre", this time as a visual representation of a "diagnostic exploit" breaking into the control software for nuclear missiles.

## See also[edit]

* Advanced persistent threat
* DigiNotar
* Killer poke
* List of security hacking incidents
* Mahdi (malware)
* Natanz
* Nitro Zeus
* Operation High Roller
* Operation Merlin
* Pin control attack
* Programmable logic controller
* Regin (malware)
* Stars virus
* Tailored Access Operations
* Vulnerability of nuclear plants to attack
* Zero Days

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169. ^ William Perry; Tom Z. Collina (June 2020), The Button: The new nuclear arms race and presidential power from Truman to Trump, BenBella Books, Wikidata Q102046116.
170. ^ Ira Helfand (November 2013), Nuclear famine: two billion people at risk? (2nd ed.), Wikidata Q63256454. The Wikipedia article on "World population" said there were approximately 6 billion humans on earth in 1999, with 7.8 billion estimated for 2020. This suggests an annual percentage increase of 1.26 percent, which would give an estimate of 7.1 billion people in 2013, when Helfand's report predicted the deaths of two billion people from a nuclear autumn. Two billion is 28 percent of 7.1 billion, which is just over a quarter. See also Owen B. Toon; Alan Robock; Michael Mills; Lili Xia (May 2017). "Asia Treads the Nuclear Path, Unaware That Self-Assured Destruction Would Result from Nuclear War" (PDF). The Journal of Asian Studies. 76 (02, 2): 437–456. doi:10.1017/S0021911817000080. ISSN 0021-9118. Wikidata Q58262021..
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## Further reading[edit]

* Langner, Ralph (March 2011). "Ralph Langner: Cracking Stuxnet, a 21st-century cyber weapon". TED. Archived from the original on 1 February 2014. Retrieved 13 May 2011.
* "The short path from cyber missiles to dirty digital bombs". Blog. Langner Communications GmbH. 26 December 2010. Archived from the original on 19 April 2017. Retrieved 13 May 2011.
* Ralph Langner's Stuxnet Deep Dive Archived 17 October 2012 at the Wayback Machine
* Langner, Ralph (November 2013). "To Kill a Centrifuge: A Technical Analysis of What Stuxnet's Creators Tried to Achieve" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 13 June 2016. Retrieved 26 November 2013. `{{cite journal}}`: Cite journal requires `|journal=` (help)
* Falliere, Nicolas (21 September 2010). "Exploring Stuxnet's PLC Infection Process". Blogs: Security Response. Symantec. Archived from the original on 21 June 2021. Retrieved 13 May 2011.
* "Stuxnet Questions and Answers". News from the Lab (blog). F-Secure. 1 October 2010. Archived from the original on 5 May 2021. Retrieved 13 May 2011.
* Mills, Elinor (5 October 2010). "Stuxnet: Fact vs. theory". CNET News. Retrieved 13 May 2011.[permanent dead link]
* Dang, Bruce; Ferrie, Peter (28 December 2010). "27C3: Adventures in analyzing Stuxnet". Chaos Computer Club e.V. Archived from the original on 11 October 2015. Retrieved 13 May 2011.
* Russinovich, Mark (30 March 2011). "Analyzing a Stuxnet Infection with the Sysinternals Tools, Part 1". Mark's Blog. Microsoft Corporation. MSDN Blogs. Archived from the original on 23 April 2011. Retrieved 13 May 2011.
* Zetter, Kim (11 July 2011). "How Digital Detectives Deciphered Stuxnet, the Most Menacing Malware in History". Threat Level Blog. Wired. Archived from the original on 28 March 2014. Retrieved 11 July 2011.
* Kroft, Steve (4 March 2012). "Stuxnet: Computer worm opens new era of warfare". 60 Minutes. CBS News. Archived from the original on 15 October 2013. Retrieved 4 March 2012.
* Sanger, David E. (1 June 2012). "Obama Order Sped Up Wave of Cyberattacks Against Iran". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 17 September 2022. Retrieved 1 June 2012.
* Kim Zetter, Countdown to Zero Day: Stuxnet and the Launch of the World's First Digital Weapon. New York: Crown Publishing Group, 2014. ISBN 978-0-7704-3617-9.

## External links[edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Stuxnet.

* fanny.bmp – at Securelist
* fanny.bmp source – at GitHub
* Stuxnet code – at Internet Archive

* v
* t
* e

Hacking in the 2010s

| <- 2000s | Timeline | 2020s ->

|
|

Major incidents|

| 2010|

* Operation Aurora (publication of 2009 events)
* Australian cyberattacks
* Operation Olympic Games
* Operation ShadowNet
* Operation Payback

|

2011|

* Canadian government
* DigiNotar
* DNSChanger
* HBGary Federal
* Operation AntiSec
* PlayStation network outage
* RSA SecurID compromise

2012|

* LinkedIn hack
* Stratfor email leak
* Operation High Roller

2013|

* South Korea cyberattack
* Snapchat hack
* Cyberterrorism Attack of June 25
* 2013 Yahoo! data breach
* Singapore cyberattacks

2014|

* Anthem medical data breach
* Operation Tovar
* 2014 celebrity nude photo leak
* 2014 JPMorgan Chase data breach
* 2014 Sony Pictures hack
* Russian hacker password theft
* 2014 Yahoo! data breach

2015|

* Office of Personnel Management data breach
* Hacking Team
* Ashley Madison data breach
* VTech data breach
* Ukrainian Power Grid Cyberattack
* SWIFT banking hack

2016|

* Bangladesh Bank robbery
* Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center ransomware incident
* Commission on Elections data breach
* Democratic National Committee cyber attacks
* Vietnam Airport Hacks
* DCCC cyber attacks
* Indian Bank data breaches
* Surkov leaks
* Dyn cyberattack
* Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. elections
* 2016 Bitfinex hack

2017|

* SHAttered
* 2017 Macron e-mail leaks
* WannaCry ransomware attack
* Westminster data breach
* Petya and NotPetya
* 2017 Ukraine ransomware attacks
* Vault7 data breach
* Equifax data breach
* Deloitte breach
* Disqus breach

2018|

* Trustico
* Atlanta cyberattack
* SingHealth data breach

2019|

* Sri Lanka cyberattack
* Baltimore ransomware attack
* Bulgarian revenue agency hack
* WhatsApp snooping scandal
* Jeff Bezos phone hacking incident

Hacktivism|

* Anonymous
* associated events
* CyberBerkut
* GNAA
* Goatse Security
* Lizard Squad
* LulzRaft
* LulzSec
* New World Hackers
* NullCrew
* OurMine
* PayPal 14
* RedHack
* Teamp0ison
* TDO
* UGNazi
* Ukrainian Cyber Alliance

Advanced
persistent threats|

* Bureau 121
* Charming Kitten
* Cozy Bear
* Dark Basin
* DarkMatter
* Elfin Team
* Equation Group
* Fancy Bear
* GOSSIPGIRL (confederation)
* Guccifer 2.0
* Hacking Team
* Helix Kitten
* Iranian Cyber Army
* Lazarus Group (BlueNorOff) (AndAriel)
* NSO Group
* Numbered Panda
* PLA Unit 61398
* PLA Unit 61486
* PLATINUM
* Pranknet
* Red Apollo
* Rocket Kitten
* Stealth Falcon
* Syrian Electronic Army
* Tailored Access Operations
* The Shadow Brokers
* Yemen Cyber Army

Individuals|

* George Hotz
* Guccifer
* Jeremy Hammond
* Junaid Hussain
* Kristoffer von Hassel
* Mustafa Al-Bassam
* MLT
* Ryan Ackroyd
* Sabu
* Topiary
* Track2
* The Jester

Major vulnerabilities
publicly disclosed|

* Evercookie (2010)
* iSeeYou (2013)
* Heartbleed (2014)
* Shellshock (2014)
* POODLE (2014)
* Rootpipe (2014)
* Row hammer (2014)
* SS7 vulnerabilities (2014)
* JASBUG (2015)
* Stagefright (2015)
* DROWN (2016)
* Badlock (2016)
* Dirty COW (2016)
* Cloudbleed (2017)
* Broadcom Wi-Fi (2017)
* EternalBlue (2017)
* DoublePulsar (2017)
* Silent Bob is Silent (2017)
* KRACK (2017)
* ROCA vulnerability (2017)
* BlueBorne (2017)
* Meltdown (2018)
* Spectre (2018)
* EFAIL (2018)
* Exactis (2018)
* Speculative Store Bypass (2018)
* Lazy FP state restore (2018)
* TLBleed (2018)
* SigSpoof (2018)
* Foreshadow (2018)
* Dragonblood (2019)
* Microarchitectural Data Sampling (2019)
* BlueKeep (2019)
* Kr00k (2019)

Malware|

| 2010|

* Bad Rabbit
* Black Energy 2
* SpyEye
* Stuxnet

|

2011|

* Coreflood
* Alureon
* Duqu
* Kelihos
* Metulji botnet
* Stars

2012|

* Carna
* Dexter
* FBI
* Flame
* Mahdi
* Red October
* Shamoon

2013|

* CryptoLocker
* DarkSeoul

2014|

* Brambul
* Black Energy 3
* Carbanak
* Careto
* DarkHotel
* Duqu 2.0
* FinFisher
* Gameover ZeuS
* Regin

2015|

* Dridex
* Hidden Tear
* Rombertik
* TeslaCrypt

2016|

* Hitler
* Jigsaw
* KeRanger
* MEMZ
* Mirai
* Pegasus
* Petya and NotPetya
* X-Agent

2017|

* BrickerBot
* Kirk
* LogicLocker
* Rensenware
* Triton
* WannaCry
* XafeCopy

2018|

* VPNFilter

2019|

* Grum
* Joanap
* NetTraveler
* R2D2
* Tinba
* Titanium
* ZeroAccess botnet

* v
* t
* e

Iran–Israel proxy conflict

Background|

* Iranian Revolution
* Iran–Iraq war
* 1999 arrest of Iranian Jews

Hezbollah–Israel conflict|

* Israeli–Lebanese conflict
* South Lebanon Conflict
* 1982 kidnapping of Iranian diplomats
* 1992 Buenos Aires Israeli embassy bombing
* AMIA bombing
* 2000–2006 Shebaa Farms conflict
* 2000 Hezbollah cross-border raid
* 2005 Hezbollah cross-border raid
* 2006 Lebanon War
* 2008 Israel–Hezbollah prisoner exchange
* 2009 Hezbollah plot in Egypt
* Francop Affair
* January 2015 Shebaa Farms incident
* Operation Northern Shield
* 2019 Beirut drone crash
* 2023 Israel–Lebanon shellings
* 2023 Israel–Lebanon border clashes
* Projectile attacks from Lebanon

Israeli–Palestinian conflict|

* Karine A affair
* Victoria Affair
* Operation Full Disclosure

Gaza–Israel conflict|

* Gaza War (2008–2009)
* 2014 Gaza War
* May 2023 Gaza–Israel clashes
* 2023 Israel–Hamas war

Syrian civil war|

* January 2013 Rif Dimashq airstrike
* May 2013 Rif Dimashq airstrikes
* December 2014 Rif Dimashq airstrikes
* January 2015 Mazraat Amal incident
* April 2015 Qalamoun incident
* March 2017 Israel–Syria incident
* February 2018 Israel–Syria incident
* Operation House of Cards
* September 2018 Syria missile strikes
* August 2019 Syria missile strikes
* November 2019 Syria missile strikes
* January 2021 Syria airstrikes
* July 2022 Damascus airstrikes
* 2023 Damascus airstrike
* Israeli–Syrian ceasefire line incidents
* Hezbollah involvement

International incidents|

* Operation Outside the Box
* 2009 Sudan airstrikes
* 2011 alleged Iran assassination plot
* 2012 attacks on Israeli diplomats
* 2012 Bangkok bombings
* 2012 Cyprus terrorist plot
* 2012 Burgas bus bombing
* Yarmouk munitions factory explosion
* 2019 Israeli airstrikes in Iraq
* 2022 Erbil missile attacks
* 2022 Istanbul terror plot

Nuclear program of Iran|

* Assassination of Iranian nuclear scientists
* Ardeshir Hosseinpour
* Masoud Alimohammadi
* Majid Shahriari
* Fereydoon Abbasi
* Mostafa Ahmadi Roshan
* Mohsen Fakhrizadeh
* AMAD Project
* Bid Kaneh explosion
* Stuxnet
* 2020 Iran explosions
* 2021 Natanz incident
* 2023 Iran drone attacks

Related|

* Russia and the Iran–Israel proxy conflict
* Iran–Saudi Arabia proxy conflict
* Ahmad Reza Djalali
* Axis of Resistance
* Israeli–Sunni Coalition
* Abraham Accords
* Warsaw Middle East conference
* People's Mujahedin of Iran
* Little Satan
* Zionist entity
* Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Israel
* Opposition to military action against Iran
* Iran and state-sponsored terrorism
* Iranian support for Hamas
* Israel and state-sponsored terrorism
* Quds Day
* Prisoner X2
* Tehran

Category:Iran–Israel proxy conflict

* v
* t
* e

Iran–United States relations

Diplomatic posts|

* Embassy of Iran, Washington, D.C.
* Ambassadors of Iran to the United States
* Embassy of the United States, Tehran
* Ambassadors of the United States to Iran
* Interests Section of Iran in the United States
* Consulate-General of the United States, Tabriz
* Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs
* Iran–United States Claims Tribunal
* Iranian Directorate
* Iran Syria Policy and Operations Group

Diplomacy|

* Persian Corridor
* Persian Gulf Command
* Nationalization of the Iranian oil industry
* 1953 Iranian coup d'état
* Abadan Crisis Timeline
* Treaty of Amity, Economic Relations and Consular Rights
* Exercise Delawar
* Project Dark Gene
* Island of Stability
* Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's letter to George W. Bush
* Correspondence between Barack Obama and Ali Khamenei
* Phone conversation between Barack Obama and Hassan Rouhani
* Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action
* Negotiations
* Joint Plan of Action
* Framework
* Reactions
* Criticism
* Aftermath
* U.S. withdrawal

Conflicts|

* Iran–Iraq War
* United States support for Iraq
* Bridgeton incident
* Iran Air Flight 655
* Iran Ajr
* Iran–Contra affair
* Operation Staunch
* Operation Eager Glacier
* Operation Earnest Will
* Operation Prime Chance
* Operation Nimble Archer
* Operation Praying Mantis
* Syrian civil war
* Yemeni Civil War
* Arab–Israeli alliance against Iran
* Abraham Accords
* February 2019 Warsaw Conference
* Iran–Israel proxy conflict
* Iran–Saudi Arabia proxy conflict
* Russia–Syria–Iran–Iraq coalition
* International Maritime Security Construct
* May 2019 Gulf of Oman incident
* June 2019 Gulf of Oman incident
* 2019 Iranian shoot-down of American drone
* December 2019 United States airstrikes in Iraq and Syria
* 2019 K-1 Air Base attack
* Attack on the United States embassy in Baghdad
* Assassination of Qasem Soleimani
* reactions
* Thirteen revenge scenarios
* Donald Trump's threat for the destruction of Iranian cultural sites
* Operation Martyr Soleimani
* 2020 Camp Taji attacks
* 2021 Erbil rocket attacks
* February 2021 United States airstrike in Syria
* June 2021 United States airstrike in Syria
* July 2021 Gulf of Oman incident
* August 2021 Gulf of Oman incident
* 2021 U.S.–Iran naval incident
* 2022 Erbil missile attacks
* 2023 Northeastern Syria clashes
* 2023 attacks on U.S. bases in Iraq and Syria

Incidents after 1979|

* Assassination of Paul R. Shaffer and John H. Turner
* Iranian Revolution
* Iran hostage crisis
* Timeline
* Guadeloupe Conference
* Operation Credible Sport
* Operation Eagle Claw
* Canadian Caper
* Jimmy Carter's engagement with Ruhollah Khomeini
* 1980 October Surprise theory
* Negotiations
* Algiers Accords
* America can't do a damn thing against us
* Beirut barracks bombings
* Khobar Towers bombing
* Lawrence Franklin espionage scandal
* Disappearance of Robert Levinson
* U.S. kill or capture strategy in Iraq
* U.S. raid on the Iranian Liaison Office in Erbil
* Kidnapping of Jalal Sharafi
* 2008 Naval dispute
* Filipino Monkey
* Project Cassandra
* Detention of American hikers
* United States diplomatic cables leak
* 2011 alleged Iran assassination plot
* Strait of Hormuz dispute
* RQ-170 incident
* MV Maersk Tigris
* 2016 Naval incident
* Nuclear program of Iran
* Timeline
* P5+1
* Operation Merlin
* Charming Kitten
* Stuxnet
* Kidnapping of Hossein Alikhani
* Arrest of Meng Wanzhou
* Deportation of Iranian students at US airports
* 2020 Iran explosions
* 2021 Natanz incident
* Leaked Mohammad Javad Zarif audiotape

Legislation|

* United States sanctions against Iran
* Maximum pressure campaign
* Executive Order 12170
* Executive Order 12172
* Executive Order 13769
* reactions
* Trump travel ban
* Executive Order 13780
* Executive Order 13876
* Iran and Libya Sanctions Act
* Iran Nonproliferation Act
* Iran, North Korea, Syria Nonproliferation Act
* Iran Freedom and Support Act
* Iran Sanctions Enhancement Act
* Kyl–Lieberman Amendment
* Comprehensive Iran Sanctions, Accountability, and Divestment Act
* Iran Freedom and Counter-Proliferation Act
* Public Law 113-100
* Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act
* Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act
* Dames & Moore v. Regan
* United States Diplomatic and Consular Staff in Tehran
* Oil Platforms case
* United States v. Banki
* Bank Markazi v. Peterson
* Certain Iranian Assets
* Rubin v. Islamic Republic of Iran
* Alleged violations of Treaty of Amity

Groups and individuals|

* Iran Action Group
* Iran–America Society
* Iranian Students Association in the United States
* National Iranian American Council
* Organization of Iranian American Communities
* Public Affairs Alliance of Iranian Americans
* United Against Nuclear Iran
* Farashgard
* Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps
* Jundallah
* Kingdom Assembly of Iran
* National Council of Iran
* National Council of Resistance of Iran
* People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran
* Elliott Abrams
* Howard Baskerville
* William J. Fallon
* Brian Hook
* Joseph Macmanus
* Robert Malley
* Stephen D. Mull
* Jon Pattis
* Erwin David Rabhan
* Jason Rezaian
* Scott Ritter
* Craig Wadsworth
* Michael R. White
* Roxana Saberi
* Saeed Abedini
* Saeid Aboutaleb
* Shahram Amiri
* Sirous Asgari
* Mahmoud Reza Banki
* Haleh Esfandiari
* Amir Mirza Hekmati
* Ezedin Abdel Aziz Khalil
* Shahrzad Mirgholikhan
* Mohammad Hosseini
* Esha Momeni
* Mohammad Mosaddegh
* Baquer Namazi
* Siamak Namazi
* Sahar Nowrouzzadeh
* Reza Pahlavi, Crown Prince of Iran
* Noor Pahlavi
* Trita Parsi
* Maryam Rajavi
* Abdolreza Shahlaei
* Ali Shakeri
* Masoud Soleimani
* Morad Tahbaz
* Kian Tajbakhsh
* Karan Vafadari
* Xiyue Wang
* Nizar Zakka
* Iranian Guantanamo Bay detainees
* Abdul Majid Muhammed

Related|

* 1998 FIFA World Cup match
* Academic relations between Iran and the United States
* American Islam
* Anti-American sentiment in Iran
* Axis of evil
* CIA activities in Iran
* Copyright relations
* Death to America
* Dual containment
* Great Satan
* International Conference on Hollywoodism
* Iran and state-sponsored terrorism
* Iranian frozen assets
* Opposition to military action against Iran
* State Sponsor of Terrorism
* United States involvement in regime change
* United States and state-sponsored terrorism
* 650 Fifth Avenue
* Alavi Foundation
* Alborz High School
* American Institute of Iranian Studies
* American School of Isfahan
* Community School, Tehran
* Damavand College
* Iran Bethel School
* Iranzamin School
* Saint Peter Church, Tehran
* Tehran American School
* "Bomb Iran"
* Overthrow
* Not for the Faint of Heart

Category

* v
* t
* e

North Korea–United States relations

Diplomatic posts|

* Old Korean Legation Museum
* United States Special Representatives for North Korea
* Embassy of the United States, Seoul
* Ambassadors of the United States to South Korea
* Embassy of Sweden, Pyongyang
* Permanent Mission of North Korea to the United Nations
* Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs

Diplomacy|

* Agreed Framework
* Six-party talks
* 2018–19 Korean peace process
* Singapore Summit
* Reactions
* Hanoi Summit
* DMZ Summit
* Peace Treaty on Korean Peninsula
* Recovery of US human remains from the Korean War

Conflicts|

* Korean conflict
* Korean War
* Hill 303 massacre
* Sinchon Massacre
* Operation Combat Fox
* Operation Formation Star
* Allegations of biological warfare
* Korean Armistice Agreement
* CIA activities in North Korea
* Team Spirit
* Foal Eagle
* Operation Weasel
* Max Thunder
* Ulchi-Freedom Guardian
* Nuclear power in North Korea
* North Korea and weapons of mass destruction
* Korean Peninsula Energy Development Organization

Incidents|

* Chaplain–Medic massacre
* Bloody Gulch massacre
* Charles Robert Jenkins
* USS Pueblo (AGER-2)
* 1969 EC-121 shootdown incident
* Lod Airport massacre
* Korean axe murder incident
* Evan Hunziker
* Axis of Evil
* Disappearance of David Louis Sneddon
* Delta Asia Financial Group
* Dai Hong Dan incident
* 2009 imprisonment of American journalists
* Euna Lee
* Laura Ling
* Han Park
* Aijalon Gomes
* Kenneth Bae
* Dennis Rodman
* Merrill Newman
* Matthew Todd Miller
* Jeffrey Edward Fowle
* The Interview
* Sony Pictures hack
* Otto Warmbier
* North Korean Embassy in Madrid incident
* Travis King
* Foreign nationals detained in North Korea

Legislation|

* Sanctions against North Korea
* Iran, North Korea, Syria Nonproliferation Act
* North Korean Human Rights Act of 2004
* North Korea Sanctions Enforcement Act of 2013
* Trump travel ban
* Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act

Related|

* South Korea–United States relations
* 2008 New York Philharmonic visit to North Korea
* 38 North
* Anti-American sentiment in Korea
* Korean American National Coordinating Council
* Sinchon Museum of American War Atrocities
* State Sponsors of Terrorism
* Stuxnet
* Superdollar
* Put It Down

Category:North Korea–United States relations
*[ICSJWG]: Industrial Control Systems Joint Working Group
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