The truth or cheap politicking.
US President Barack Obama was behind the Stuxnet cyber attack on Iran's nuclear enrichment facilities last year. Obama accelerated the attacks - codenamed "Olympic Games" - that began during the Bush administration, even after the Stuxnet virus escaped the plant and caused cyber destruction around the world, the New York Times reported.
The Iranian plant was hit with a series of attacks and during the weeks that followed up to 1000 of the 5000 centrifuges Iran had been using to purify uranium were taken out. After it took out Iran's facilities, the virus leaked and wreaked havoc on hundreds of thousands of computers around the world, including Australia.
Obama asked whether the US should "shut this thing down" during a meeting with the CIA director, Leon E Panetta, and Vice President Joe Bidenm but despite the minimal damage to Iran's plants and the huge collateral damage elsewhere, it was decided the attacks should continue.
The attempt was reportedly the first time the US has used cyberweapons instead of military weapons to take out infrastructure that allows countries to wage war. Obama was only revealed to be the source of the virus after unnamed former US, Israeli and European officials involved in the program came forward. The cyber attacks remain highly classified.
Forensic investigators from businesses, including anti-virus companies Symantec, were involved in dissecting the virus which was 50 times the size of a typical "worm" computer virus. They were unable to determine the source.
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