Researchers have confirmed that a remarkable piece of malware discovered years ago but analyzed only recently was designed to subvert nuclear weapons testing simulations with the aim of undermining those tests and slowing the progress of a nuclear program. The new report, from researchers at the security firm Symantec, confirms what has only previously been speculated about the code by the company that first discovered it — SentinelOne. The malicious code, known as Fast16, was designed to subvert at least two specialized software programs that were commonly used for simulating weapons explosions at the time the code was active in 2005. According to Vikram Thakur, technical director for Symantec, and Eric Chien, a fellow in Symantec’s security technology and response division, it cleverly swapped out legitimate data produced by the simulation software, replacing it with false data that was fed to engineers monitoring those simulated tests.

Full report : Stuxnet-linked Fast16 malware, designed to subvert nuclear weapons testing simulations, was likely part of a campaign to slow Iran’s nuclear ambitions.