Snowden says U.S., Israel created Stuxnet virus that attacked Iran

TEHRAN,July 10(MNA) – U.S. National Security Agency whistleblower Edward Snowden told a German magazine that Israel and the United States created the Stuxnet computer virus that attacked industrial sites in Iran, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency reported. Snowden made the statement as part of an interview with the German news magazine Der Spiegel in which he answered encrypted questions sent by security software developer Jacob Appelbaum and documentary filmmaker Laura Poitras. Excerpts of the interview were published Monday on the Spiegel website. Snowden was asked if the U.S. National Security Agency partners “with other nations, like Israel?” He responded that the NSA has a “massive body” responsible for such partnerships called the Foreign Affairs Directorate. He also was asked, “Did the NSA help to create Stuxnet?” Snowden responded, “NSA and Israel co-wrote it.” In September 2010, international news agencies reported that the Stuxnet worm, which is capable of taking over power plants, had infected many industrial sites in Iran. Later, Western officials and media outlets claimed that the cyber attack had hindered Iran’s nuclear program. Iranian officials confirmed that some Iranian industrial systems had been targeted by a cyber attack, but insisted that no crashes or serious damage to the country’s industrial computer systems had been reported and said Iranian engineers had rooted out the problem. Snowden, a former technical contractor for the NSA and employee of the CIA, last month revealed the existence of mass surveillance programs by the United States and Britain against their own citizens and citizens of other countries. Snowden is a fugitive of the United States who is believed to be in Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport. Three Latin American countries — Venezuela, Nicaragua, and Bolivia — have offered him asylum, NBC reported.