Iran hit by second computer worm

Iran has been hit by a second malware attack in addition to the Stuxnet worm that was designed to disrupt nuclear operations.

"Stars" is the second serious computer worm to hit Iran in the past eight months. Late last year, a powerful virus known as Stuxnet targeted the country's nuclear facilities and other industrial sites.

Iranian security personnel are still in the process of investigating the computer worm, Brigadier General Gholam-Reza Jalali, told Iran's Mehr News Agency

“Certain characteristics about the Stars worm have ben identified, including that it is compatible with the (targeted) system and that the damage is very slight in the initial state, and it is likely to be mistaken for executable files of the government,” said Jalali, who heads Iran's Passive Defense Organization, a military unit in charge of combatting sabotage.

Jalali and other Iranian officials have said that Stuxnet managed to affect a limited number of Iran's centrifuges but that damage was contained after the discovery.

There's no evidence researchers outside of Iran have examined the new worm.