Biblical clue to Stuxnet worm

NY Times:

Deep inside the computer worm that some specialists suspect is aimed at slowing Iran’s race for a nuclear weapon lies what could be a fleeting reference to the Book of Esther, the Old Testament tale in which the Jews pre-empt a Persian plot to destroy them.

That use of the word “Myrtus” — which can be read as an allusion to Esther — to name a file inside the code is one of several murky clues that have emerged as computer experts try to trace the origin and purpose of the rogue Stuxnet program, which seeks out a specific kind of command module for industrial equipment.

Not surprisingly, the Israelis are not saying whether Stuxnet has any connection to the secretive cyberwar unit it has built inside Israel’s intelligence service. Nor is the Obama administration, which while talking about cyberdefenses has also rapidly ramped up a broad covert program, inherited from the Bush administration, to undermine Iran’s nuclear program. In interviews in several countries, experts in both cyberwar and nuclear enrichment technology say the Stuxnet mystery may never be solved.

There are many competing explanations for myrtus, which could simply signify myrtle, a plant important to many cultures in the region. But some security experts see the reference as a signature allusion to Esther, a clear warning in a mounting technological and psychological battle as Israel and its allies try to breach Tehran’s most heavily guarded project. Others doubt the Israelis were involved and say the word could have been inserted as deliberate misinformation, to implicate Israel.

“The Iranians are already paranoid about the fact that some of their scientists have defected and several of their secret nuclear sites have been revealed,” one former intelligence official who still works on Iran issues said recently. “Whatever the origin and purpose of Stuxnet, it ramps up the psychological pressure.”

So a calling card in the code could be part of a mind game, or sloppiness or whimsy from the coders.

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There is much more.

I would tend to eliminate sloppiness in a project this complex. What I would not eliminate is coincidence. But I like the suggestion that it is a mind game, because I think the Iranians tend to tie themselves in knots over such.

During the Vietnam war, the US tried several different ways to get something of an insurgency going in North Vietnam. They all bombed rather badly, but eventually, someone noticed that the communist were executing many more people then we were trying to plant. The idea emerged to take some of the NVA POWs and sue some suggestions of treachery into their clothing then parachute them into North Vietnam. The scam worked as planned, but was discontinued after LBJ started one of his "peace" attempts.

The point is that I would not discount attempts to make Iran even more paranoid than it already is.