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A year has passed since the so-called Stuxnet virus was found to have wreaked havoc among the turbines and centrifuges at Iran’s Bushehr and Natanz nuclear sites by infecting control systems made by German engineering giant Siemens AG.

In the intervening months, analysts and long-form writers have had a chance to delve into the history and workings of this highly unusual attack and piece together a more complete narrative on the subject.

An excellent example is a detailed and lengthy article released today by Wired magazine called “How Digital Detectives Deciphered Stuxnet, the Most Menacing Malware in History.” Writer Kim Zetter notes that while on the surface “Stuxnet seemed routine and unambitious in its aims,” it also caught the attention of companies like Symantec for its hidden complexities and size – “500k bytes, as opposed to the usual 10k to 15k.” Moreover, the code “appeared to be a dense and efficient orchestra of data and commands” with “no extraneous fat.” As Liam O Murchu, manager of operations for Symantec Security Response, put it to Wired: “Everything in it just made your hair stand up and go, this is something we need to look into.”

If the magazine’s 10,000-word magnum opus doesn’t answer all your questions, two of the better resources for regularly keeping track of articles on Stuxnet are the References section of its Wikipedia entry, and a ‘timeline’ of relevant articles, maintained by the Infracritical blog.

(Photo courtesy of the Presidency of the Islamic Republic of Iran News Service)

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