Ride the Lightning

U.S. and Israel Developed Flame Virus to Slow Iranian Nuclear Efforts

June 21, 2012

The Washington Post reported on Tuesday that it has received confirmation from multiple official sources that the U.S. and Israel collaborated on development of the Flame virus in an attempt to gather intelligence about and slow the development of Iranian nuclear capabilities.

Officials confirm that this is the first sustained campaign of cyber-sabotage against a U.S. adversary. The effort apparently involved the National Security Agency, the CIA and Israel's military.

Flame was discovered last month when Iran detected attacks on its oil industry. In what was (to me) a remarkable twist, apparently these disruptions were caused by a unilateral attack by Israel which took the U.S. by surprise. U.S. officials have expressed dismay that Israel's unilateral action led to the discovery of Flame.

As readers know, I have fretted about the unintended consequences of cyberattacks. And here is another one – we collaborate with an ally who decides to go renegade and initiates an attack without the knowledge of the U.S. The implications of such actions in a cyberwarfare scenario scare the heck out of me. Anyone else have a case of the willies thinking about this?