Zero Days film puts two Symantec researchers in the spotlight

By Symantec Security Response

Zero Days is a documentary by Oscar-winning director Alex Gibney which examines the impact of cyberattacks perpetrated by countries around the world. As national governments move towards using covert attacks on other countries through malware, Gibney tries to piece together what might happen next.

To help focus the story, Gibney digs into the Stuxnet worm (W32.Stuxnet). Due to Stuxnet’s specificity and how complicated it was, two of Symantec's researchers, Eric Chien and Liam O'Murchu, began analysing the worm. What they eventually discovered was that it was so well crafted that it only could have been created by a national government.

After reading their research on the threat, Gibney reached out to Chien and O'Murchu to make them a prominent part of the documentary.

Their involvement culminated in a visually striking demonstration (involving a balloon, talcum powder, and a high-speed camera) of how Stuxnet affected the Iranian centrifuges.

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