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The story behind Stuxnet, the malware targeted at an Iranian nuclear processing station, has been known in general since last fall when a team of researchers at Symantec released this document, which we covered at the time in our article here. But seeing is believing. I had a chance to attend a special briefing at Symantec's headquarters in Mountain View, Calif. where Patrick Gardner, a director in their security group, actually showed us what was involved. It was a real thrill.

A three-month investigation published Saturday by The New York Times indicates the Stuxnet virus that did damage to Iran's nuclear program may well have been a joint project between the American and Israeli government.

The "Dimona complex" located in the southern Negev desert in Israel, where that country is said to have centered its nuclear weapons program, may for two years have been the proving ground for Stuxnet as well.

Several weeks ago, when the Stuxnet virus first struck, the thing that stuck out was how it targeted the computer systems found in factories, called supervisory control and data acquisition systems, or SCADA. My first thought was a hacker had picked a unique target in order to show off his or her chops.

My second thought was how this type of attack could herald a type of economic warfare we don't think that much about any more in an era of electronic communications. To preserve our societies, we need to be able to continue to make things. This virus would attack a country at that level. But now, some experts have suggested the virus shows "signs of nation-state involvement" as it apparently goes after the control systems in an Iranian nuclear facility.

Recently, we have talked a lot about how hackers can use social networks to get users to download malicious software to their computers. The most effective way for viruses to spread, however, is still email and the "Here you have" email worm that is currently making the rounds makes it abundantly clear that most users are still not able to spot and protect themselves from these threads. The email, which has already affected the networks of major organizations like Comcast, NASA and Wells Fargo, comes with the subject line "Here you have" or "Just For you" and includes and appears to include a link to a PDF file.

As we mentioned earlier today, some third-party Twitter applications may stop working because Twitter has made some big changes this morning regarding how other applications and websites gain access to your Twitter account. Unfortunately, some unfriendly types out there have tried to take advantage of the situation with a fake Tweetdeck update that is actually a trojan horse virus.

Tweetdeck posted a warning on its blog yesterday about the fake update, but today will be the real test, as many of us go searching for the real update.

Does Facebook need to run its own anti-virus and anti-malware security system? That's a question that may need to be addressed in the near future as the now almost 500 million users on the social networking service are facing regular attacks from rogue applications, phishing attempts and other sorts of hacks, not to mention the onslaught of viral, but often completely inaccurate reposted status messages that spread around the network like modern-day chain letters. These messages warn users about some supposed threat occurring on site, but are often either misguided or out-and-out lies.

Is it time for Facebook to step in and do more to protect its network and its users from threats like these?

Numerous reports have surfaced over the weekend regarding the first iPhone worm spotted in the wild. The worm, known as iKee, only affects modified handsets also known as "jailbroken" devices. These devices have been hacked by their owners to allow for the installation of unapproved, third-party programs that aren't allowed in the iTunes App Store.

Currently, the worm doesn't appear to be all that malicious - it simply changes the phone's background image to a photo of singer Rick Astley, the man whose song "Never Gonna Give You Up" has become a well-known internet meme called "rickrolling," a joke where users are tricked into clicking links that redirect them to Astley's YouTube video.

Despite the relatively innocuous nature of this particular attack, it may be the precursor to future attacks of a more malicious nature. But how dangerous will these attacks be to the iPhone-owning population as a whole? Is there really a need for concern?

It's seems like every virus produces a list of capitalistic charlatans. During the Bubonic plague, thousands spent their hard earned savings on worthless talismans in the hopes of avoiding the Black Death. The song "Ring Around the Rosy" even documents the myth that a "pocket full of posies" could ward off the disease. Today's modern day talisman comes in the form of a fake anti-virus software. According to John Leyden's recent Register article, fake software is being peddled to users who believe their systems are infected with the Facebook Fan Check Virus.

When it comes to spreading malware on the web, virus writers are nothing if not creative. We've seen malware infiltrate everything from Facebook to Twitter to email to IM. Now it seems you can add another site to that list: Slideshare, the community for sharing your slideshow presentations on the web. Over the weekend, security firm ESET discovered that this popular social media resource was being used to spread malware in the form of fake slide decks. Although these initial attacks were relatively simple to detect, future variations could easily become more deceiving.

Network World is reporting a new Twitter virus has been making the rounds today. At best the virus will auto-tweet this message: "Hey everyone, join StalkDaily.com. It's a site like Twitter but with pictures, videos and so much more." At worst, it may lock you out of your Twitter account as noted by Sheamus Bennett at Twittercism.

"Whatever you do," suggests Bennett, "don't visit StalkDaily.com. Even without registering or logging on to the site it somehow infects your Twitter profile." Curt Monash over on Network World, however, suggests you can get infected without visiting the site; clicking on the GangsterBoy Twitter account could be enough to cause the infection.