Iran Does Not Intend To Be An Also-Ran In Cyberspace

According to Newsweek, the Stuxnet Worm attack has reinforced Iran's intent to become a force in cyberspace, building on the past exploits the Iranian Cyber Army:

Iranian officials—who have blamed the U.S. and Israel for the worm—see the attack as the latest round of a cyberwar targeting Iran. (Both Twitter and Facebook have also been cited by Iran as part of a broad effort to gather intelligence and destabilize the country.) After a number of government Web sites were hacked during the disputed 2009 presidential election—presumably by supporters of the opposition—Tehran started to fight back by forming the Iranian Cyber Army, a group linked to the Revolutionary Guards.
Last year, these pro-government hackers briefly took down Twitter, and they intend to expand their targets: a Guard spokesman has said that the goal of the Cyber Army is to “conquer virtual space.” As part of that effort, 120 members of the Basij, a youth militia, were recently sent to Mashad for training in “writing weblogs, social networking, psychological operations, protection from Internet spying, mobile phones and their capabilities, Basij cybercenters and videogames that would allow penetration into virtual space.” Regardless of who created Stuxnet, it’s clear that Iran intends to fire its own shots in the cyberwar.

Just what we need--more meshuganas who see the Internet not as their personal playground, but as their personal battleground. It's worth noting that they have declared 'war' not just on other countries, but on social networking as well--on Facebook and Twitter.

How soon before Ahmadinejad starts to threaten to wipe countries off the network?

Technorati Tag: Stuxnet Worm and Iranian Cyber Army.