An infographic dissecting the nature and ramifications of Stuxnet, the first weapon made entirely out of code. This was produced for Australian TV program HungryBeast on Australia’s ABC1.

According to fastcodesign.com:

There’s a powerful, under-reported takeaway here: The Stuxnet virus, having already done its job, now enjoys a scary afterlife. Its code is available online for anyone to look at and play with — and keep in mind, this is a virus capable of shutting down entire power grids. Could hackers re-engineer the virus to other ends, posing far greater threats to the international economy?

It’s hard to know, as the hacking still continues apace (and the video seems a bit all too invested in scaring the bejesus out of you). Certainly, you’d have to have a deep knowledge of a specific target to make it work again, in another setting. But it’s worth wondering whether the tool, while successful, has ended up spreading dangerous knowledge worldwide. Once its complexity and ambition becomes absorbed by the hacker community — and governments such as China — who knows what will emerge as a result.

In 100 years, historians will probably look back at Stuxnet’s emergence as the Trinity Test for a new age of warfare — a harbinger of danger in an uncertain era.

Stuxnet: Anatomy of a Computer Virus from Patrick Clair on Vimeo.

Direction and Motion Graphics: Patrick Clair patrickclair.com
Written by: Scott Mitchell

Production Company: Zapruder’s Other Films