Rats. And here I was thinking I was being brilliant and insightful.

I wondered why my spam had dropped off so much, not that I'm complaining. A year or so ago I was getting at least 10x's as much as I am now.  Yay, go team go!!!

Zing!

As a corollary - in the old days, bugs were small, compact, and not as versatile.  They had to be,   Memory was expensive (and at least on the PC side, limited).  Now bugs - like Stuxnet - are malware bloatware.  But they do the job. Unfortunately.

Depends who's doing what to whom (and why): Case in point - Israel and Iran... I don't believe Israel built the trojan/virus, but I believe they used it effectively against a sworn enemy and knowing a little about the technology capabilities of Israel, if they wanted to build one, it'd make Stuxnet look like a common cold compared to the plague.

Stuxnet ... no we don't have to worry about it. But like the video said, the code (and the know-how) is now out there. Programmers can change, develop and 'improve', for their own device.

"There have been several large botnets “taken down” as a result of heightened Law Enforcement activity and prosecution. This has resulted in much less spam (90% less, in fact), and fewer attacks, but the number and rate are still alarming."

Eh? 90%? Sources, sir? It's true that Rustnock botnet has been taked down, but 90%? Any law enforcement activity cannot solve the problem long-term, because the poorly administered end-user machines are just as vulnerable - it's only matter of time someone else starts zombifying them. 

RANT:   Yes, the hackers are an intelligent lot.  I understand from another tread that the CIA? NSA?  has 'hired' a number of them to help with their agencies's cyber abilities.  I wonder if the 'free lance' hackers still out there will ever back off of hacking into consumer data banks.  Such hacking generally tends to hurt regular individuals... and not the secretive aspects of gov-corporations. 

I suppose, if they wanted to really help, why don't they help all the rest of us regular people actually see and know what the secrative coroprations, (who aren't beholden to any one anymore), are really doing.  Govermental sunshine laws get evaded pretty easially, it seems.  Wish they would stop picking on us,,, and pick on someone their own size...   PS:  Wiki - leaks could have blocked out the names of low level functunaries, and protected regular people from reprocussions...  they didn't.   (end rant) 

Seriously, I was not able to view the video "Ant... virus" and when I went to the hungry site, it said it could 'only be viewed from Australia.'  Never received a message like that before.  Any advice?  It did mention a video of a 'switch to turn the internet off, as well...

Seems like Stuxnet was designed to nail specific systems.  I keep wondering why so many of these computer systems are hooked up to the internet all the time.  Why can't they be 'freestanding' most of the time, and have real people, on real phone / video links, etc, actually   talking with one another before opening the link, for just enough tiime to transfer whatever had to be sent via web?  It seems the more we remove people from the equation, the more we end up with potrentially massive problems.  Why do nuclear plants, or oil wells, or electricity transmitting plants have to wired into the Web all the time, and therby expose themselves, all the time, to incoming malware? 

Doc, yes, Israel has made so many truly revolutionary inventions, and application.  many have been medical and many people, including some high levle arab leaders, owe their lives to some of the medical breakthroughs.  They do militrary research, too, i suspect.  I understand that they routenely take any system they get from the US, or wherever, and upgrade it with their own software, etc.  Is true?  (Or will they have to kill you if you tell us? SMILE)?

Wouldn't have been Mossad. Probably would have been Unit 8200 which came from the IDF SigInt branch, and which is now the IDF Cyber Command, if the attack came from Israel. It could have come from anywhere, though.