Unleashing Micro Viruses on Networks

[John Young <jya@pipeline.com>]

     6-11-97, Janes' Defence Weekly:

     Unleashing Microbots on Iran's IT Networks

     Unlike the 1990-1991 Gulf War, when the USA inserted a 
     National Security Agency-developed, virus-laden microchip 
     into a French computer printer headed for Baghdad, in 2015 
     the USA relies on several methods for infecting Iranian
     computers. These efforts hope to get around problems
     created by the proliferation of encryption technology. 

     While some peripheral equipment, like printers, will be
     intercepted and bugged in order to disable mainframe
     computers, intelligence technicians will also use the internet
     to send guided viruses into Iran's national information
     infrastructure. 

     Thumbnail-sized micro-robots, known as `microbots', will
     also be unleashed by micro-air vehicles and naval guns. These
     parasites will creep into electronic equipment, attach
     themselves, and keep themselves alive by draining generator
     power. 

     Once the electronics system's energy is depleted, the fully
     charged microscopic vermin will search for a new victim. 

     The main problem will be that they are too small to carry
     identification equipment and so they infect indiscriminately.
     As such, they must be deployed far away from allied
     equipment. 

     However, packages of microbots can be destroyed remotely
     as allies prepare to invade enemy territory. 

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     [Copyright 1997, Jane's Information Group]