Quote:
Originally Posted by sclitheroe
Because wiping out the systems completely would have forced them to rebuild, at which point the worm would have lost hosts to reside on.
My understanding about what it did to the centrifuges was that rather than drastically alter their operation, as the FoxNews story posted above suggests, it subtly altered their speed over weeks, months, and maybe years, causing them not to fail, but to produce uranium that wasn't properly enriched into anything usable.
In essence, it slowly poisoned the well, rather than destroying the pumps, if that analogy makes any sense. This cost them time, and more importantly, raw materials.
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Given how long the Iranians have been delayed getting their centrifuges in working order I think stuxnet found its mark. Though its hard to say if it was just technical issues on their part.
Article link is now dead btw.