The Mystery of Stuxnet | Cracking the Code | S57-E1

American Innovations

Wondery

Steven Johnson, History, Kids & Family, Education For Kids, Science

4.6 • 4.1K Ratings

🗓️ 16 December 2021

⏱️ 45 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

In the summer of 2010, a mysterious computer virus called Stuxnet lands on the desk of Symantec cybersecurity analyst Liam O’Murchu. Stuxnet is unlike anything O’Murchu has ever seen: a highly sophisticated piece of malware that serves no obvious purpose. O’Murchu and his colleagues are determined to figure out how it works and who’s behind it -- but soon, it becomes clear that Stuxnet might be more than they bargained for.

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Transcript

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0:23.0	It's Friday, July 16, 2010, a little after 9 a.m. in Culver City, California.
0:38.0	Liam Omerku strides into his office at Symantec, one of the leading cybersecurity firms in the world.
0:45.2	Although it has a fancy name, the Threat Analysis Lab, it's a drab office populated by cubicles. There's no art on the walls and only one set of windows.
0:56.3	O'Marku is 32 years old with a round face and short brown hair that sticks up at the front.
1:02.2	His Irish brogue booms as he greets his colleagues.
1:05.4	Cheers Deb! T G-I-F, am I right, Nate? Hey Jake, tell me he saw the game last night.
1:12.4	At his cubicle he slings his messenger bag onto the floor and plops into his chair.
1:17.0	He logs into each of his three computers.
1:20.0	Two were research computers, isolated from the company network and kept offline,
1:25.0	so they can't spread any of the viruses he studies.
1:28.0	The third is connected to the internet.
1:31.0	Omerkhu checks his email to see what's come in from the Dublin office, which
1:35.1	is just wrapped up its work day.
1:37.8	Semantic focuses on detecting and disabling malware, software design with malicious intent.
1:44.4	Malware can pop up at any time, so the company has people on call around the world 24 hours
1:49.5	a day, ready to respond as new threats arise.
	...

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