'Cyber arms race has begun'

Ynetnews - "The end justifies the means," an American cyber expert, explaining Washington's involvement in launching cyber attacks against Iran, told the Washington post Sunday.

A new book slated to be released in the United States this week, linked the US, the European Union and Israel to the string of malware attacks plaguing computer system in Iran in the past three years.

The book alleges that the joint venture, dubbed "Olympic Games" has made the Islamic Republic's nuclear facilities its primary focus, in hopes of curbing Tehran's nuclear ambitions.

The officials, who spoke to the Post on the condition of anonymity, said that cyber-weapons included in the Olympic Games program, such as Stuxnet, Duqu and most recently Flame, were "geared towards damaging Iran's nuclear capability gradually while sowing confusion among Iranian scientists about the cause of mishaps at a nuclear plant."

Rafal Rohozinski, a cyber security expert and head of the SecDev Group, added that "Effectively the United States has gone to war with Iran and has chosen to do so in this manner because the effects can justify this means.

"This officially signals the beginning of the cyber arms race in practice, and not in theory," he said.

Iran blamed the United States and Israel for launching the cyber-bombs, saying such efforts were in vain:

The Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Sunday that "despite all of the enemies' effort, the Iranian nation is by far more powerful compared to the beginning of the revolution.

"What the enemies of Iran fear, and must fear, is not a nuclear Iran but the Islamic Iran," he said, according to Iranian state-run news agency Press TV.