[General Battuta]

the world stands in shock, completely flabbergasted by this unexpected turn of events

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/01/world/middleeast/obama-ordered-wave-of-cyberattacks-against-iran.html?_r=1&smid=tw-nytimes&seid=auto

[Ghostavo]

http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2012/06/confirmed-us-israel-created-stuxnet-lost-control-of-it/

[SypheDMar]

I don't know what to think of this.

[LordMelvin]

the world stands in shock, completely flabbergasted by this unexpected turn of events

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/01/world/middleeast/obama-ordered-wave-of-cyberattacks-against-iran.html?_r=1&smid=tw-nytimes&seid=auto

From your article:

...the attacks — begun in the Bush administration and code-named Olympic Games — even after...

[General Battuta]

But by the time Mr. Bush left office, no wholesale destruction had been accomplished. Meeting with Mr. Obama in the White House days before his inauguration, Mr. Bush urged him to preserve two classified programs, Olympic Games and the drone program in Pakistan. Mr. Obama took Mr. Bush’s advice.

What he did not say then was that he was also learning the arts of cyberwar. The architects of Olympic Games would meet him in the Situation Room, often with what they called the “horse blanket,” a giant foldout schematic diagram of Iran’s nuclear production facilities. Mr. Obama authorized the attacks to continue, and every few weeks — certainly after a major attack — he would get updates and authorize the next step. Sometimes it was a strike riskier and bolder than what had been tried previously.

[NGTM-1R]

Weak on security!

[MP-Ryan]

Why the hell is this being published?

I don't think this information comes as a surprise to anyone, but still, someone needs to discuss the meaning of "right to know" versus "need to know" with media sources sometime.  There's a reason it's still highly classified and none of the sources spoke on-record.

Argh.

[Ghostavo]

People were fired because of stuxnet. I feel sad...

[General Battuta]

People were fired because of stuxnet. I feel sad...

Obama has cost this economy too many jobs

- mahmoud ahmadinejad

[Thaeris]

"As the International Strategy for Cyberspace notes, these sorts of electronic attacks are serious business. The US in fact reserves the right to use even military force to respond to similar attacks."

[MrUnimport]

For years the C.I.A. had introduced faulty parts and designs into Iran’s systems — even tinkering with imported power supplies so that they would blow up

This is the best mental image of the entire article. Forget Neuromancer-style glowing matrices and military cyberweapons, we've got spies posing as incompetent electricians.

[NGTM-1R]

This is the best mental image of the entire article. Forget Neuromancer-style glowing matrices and military cyberweapons, we've got spies posing as incompetent electricians.

To be honest, it was always so much more likely we'd do that than anything from Neuromancer. It's cheaper and easier and you're less likely to get caught and more likely to get through.

[General Battuta]

And yet here we are with our console cowboys making runs on all that Iranian I.C.E, ranging through the nonspace of the mind, like city lights, receding into flash drives

[NGTM-1R]

Right up until they disconnect it. Which they did.

Then it's up to the incompetent electricians again.

[Klaustrophobia]

Why the hell is this being published?

I don't think this information comes as a surprise to anyone, but still, someone needs to discuss the meaning of "right to know" versus "need to know" with media sources sometime.  There's a reason it's still highly classified and none of the sources spoke on-record.

Argh.

Election year.  Expect the Osama bin Laden thing to come up again in a weak attempt at subtlety also.

[General Battuta]

Why the hell is this being published?

I don't think this information comes as a surprise to anyone, but still, someone needs to discuss the meaning of "right to know" versus "need to know" with media sources sometime.  There's a reason it's still highly classified and none of the sources spoke on-record.

Argh.

Election year.  Expect the Osama bin Laden thing to come up again in a weak attempt at subtlety also.

The last thing Obama wants is to have something like this hot on the news in an election year

[MrUnimport]

Why the hell is this being published?

I don't think this information comes as a surprise to anyone, but still, someone needs to discuss the meaning of "right to know" versus "need to know" with media sources sometime.  There's a reason it's still highly classified and none of the sources spoke on-record.

Argh.

Election year.  Expect the Osama bin Laden thing to come up again in a weak attempt at subtlety also.

The last thing Obama wants is to have something like this hot on the news in an election year

On the contrary, perhaps the American people will be impressed with the tech-savvy, subtle approaches the Obama administration takes to combating threats to world security!

Even if it wasn't Obama who started it.

[BloodEagle]

Why the hell is this being published?

I don't think this information comes as a surprise to anyone, but still, someone needs to discuss the meaning of "right to know" versus "need to know" with media sources sometime.  There's a reason it's still highly classified and none of the sources spoke on-record.

Argh.

Election year.  Expect the Osama bin Laden thing to come up again in a weak attempt at subtlety also.

The last thing Obama wants is to have something like this hot on the news in an election year

On the contrary, perhaps the American people will be impressed with the tech-savvy, subtle approaches the Obama administration takes to combating threats to world security!

Even if it wasn't Obama who started it.

Except it wasn't tech-savvy.

[General Battuta]

No, it was definitely pretty tech-savvy by all accounts

[Beskargam]

honestly not surprised. and dont really mind. Is guessing that this is the norm and will bet this will eventually be regular interplay between nations.