Listen to cyber security expert Jon Lindsay revisit the case of the computer worm Stuxnet.
On October 26, 2021, Jon Lindsay, Associate Professor at the School of Cybersecurity and Privacy and Sam Nunn School of International Affairs at the Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech), discussed how the computer worm Stuxnet has shaped the understanding of cyber warfare. The event was hosted by the Centre for International Security and chaired by Marina Henke, Professor of International Relations and the Centre’s Director.
More than a decade after news of the computer worm Stuxnet broke, the case remains shrouded in unusual secrecy. Today, new information and subsequent events provide additional context. Jon Lindsay views the historiography of Stuxnet side-by-side with its history. While most studies have considered Stuxnet as a discrete instance of cyber warfare, Lindsay argues, it is rather one thread in a more complicated tapestry of discreet campaigns unfolding over the course of twenty years. As part of his presentation, Lindsay untangled the complex interaction between covert action and diplomacy. He further discussed the stabilizing features of covert actions. Lindsay described a grey zone of collusion between adversaries disinterested in escalation. From this perspective, the covert cyber activities serve a signalling function.
According to Lindsay, Stuxnet remains a critical case in cybersecurity because it exemplifies the essential ambivalence of intelligence practice in any era.
This presentation was part of the Centre for International Security's speaker series “Challenges in International Security”.
Missed the event? Listen to the recording here: