Countdown to Zero Day: Stuxnet and the Launch of the World's First Digital Weapon

by Kim Zetter

And even if the operation were discovered and the Iranians learned that their computers had been infiltrated, it would still be a win-win situation, as Weiss had pointed with the Farewell Dossier, since it would succeed in sowing doubt and paranoia among the Iranians. Even if technicians wiped their machines clean and reprogrammed them, they could never be certain that the systems wouldn’t be infected again or that their enemies wouldn’t try a different tack. They would always be on guard for any signs of trouble, and if something did go wrong, they would never know for certain if the cause had been a material defect or enemy sabotage. They’d also be much more wary of any equipment procured outside of Iran for fear that it might have already been compromised.