A new variant of the infamous Stuxnet malicious computer worm is believed to have been used on an attack on network infrastructure in Iran earlier this week.

First reported Wednesday by Israeli TV, the new attack is described as being similar to Stuxnet but “more violent, more advanced and more sophisticated.” The extent of the attack is not known, but the report claimed that it hit infrastructure and strategic networks.

The report comes days after Reuters quoted Gholamreza Jalali, head of Iran’s civil defense agency, as saying that the country had neutralized “a new generation of Stuxnet which consisted of several parts … and was trying to enter our systems.”

On the same day, Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was also quoted in a televised speech as saying that the country’s “civil defenses should confront infiltration through scientific, accurate, and up-to-date … action,” without specifically saying what the infiltration was.

The original Stuxnet was discovered in 2010 and is credited with causing substantial damage to Iran’s nuclear program. Although never confirmed by either, the cyberweapon is believed to have been developed jointly by both the U.S. and Israel.

Broderick Perelli-Harris, senior director of solution architecture at Venafi Inc. told SiliconANGLE that the new Stuxnet attack is the latest indicator of the cyberwar that many governments are actively engaged in.

“In the initial Stuxnet attack, the US and Israeli governments used stolen machine identities to infect Iranian nuclear centrifuges with the virus,” Perelli-Harris explained. “Now, over 22 million pieces of malware use that blueprint to attack organizations and states alike across the world – all the signs point to the same method being used again here.”

He added that it’s easy for organizations and governments to ignore when it’s used against a country considered an adversary, but the blueprint remains in the wild for cybercriminals to exploit.

“The new Stuxnet reminds us that governments need to think very carefully when they are creating cyberarms so that they do not escalate the problem,” Perelli-Harris added. “Cyberweapons are much more prone to proliferation and almost impossible to control. It’s naive to think we can.”

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