Stuxnet was a worm designed to disrupt which infrastructure?

• A. Financial networks.
• B. Industrial control systems.
• C. Social media platforms.
• D. Personal home networks.

Answer: (B)

Stuxnet shows how malware can bridge IT systems and the physical world by undermining industrial control processes. It was built to specifically interfere with industrial control systems that manage manufacturing equipment, not ordinary online services. The worm targeted Siemens Step7 programmable logic controllers and the associated SCADA software used to run centrifuge cascades at Iran’s Natanz facility. By secretly changing the instructions executed by the PLCs while broadcasting false feedback to operators, it caused the centrifuges to spin at damaging speeds even as the system appeared to run normally. This is a clear case of compromising infrastructure that regulates physical processes, unlike financial networks, social media platforms, or home networks, which are not the intended target of Stuxnet.