CBS Takes on Stuxnet

While President Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu work to reassure themselves and the Western world that they won't allow Iran to develop a nuclear weapon, CBS on Sunday reminded viewers that nuclear bombs aren't the only weapons of mass destruction U.S. leaders are worried about.

In a "60 Minutes" documentary on Stuxnet, the computer worm unleashed by someone (or, more likely, some nation) to derail Iran's nuclear program, former CIA director Michael Hayden notes:

"When you use a physical weapon it destroys itself, in addition to the target, if it's used properly. A cyberweapon doesn't. So there are those out there who can take a look at this, study it and maybe even attempt to turn it to their own purposes."

Such as by launching a cyberattack against critical infrastructure in the United States, "60 Minutes" suggests. Sean McGurk formerly the head of cyber defense at the Department of Homeland Security, told the program that Stuxnet has given U.S. adversaries a blueprint for attacking key facilities here: "You can download the actual source code of Stuxnet now and you can repurpose it and repackage it and then, you know, point it back towards wherever it came from."

You can watch the whole segment here: