Kaspersky Lab, the Russian security firm that has garnered headlines with its research into Stuxnet, Flame, Duqu, Gauss, and other
sophisticated malware, says it is working on a new operating system designed specifically to shield against attacks by cyber-weapons.
The as-yet unnamed OS – internally it's known only as "11.11" because the project was launched on November 11 – is intended to protect industrial control systems (ICS) of the type used in manufacturing and infrastructure from attacks like the one that
sabotaged Iranian nuclear facilities in 2010.
In a blog post on Tuesday, the ebullient Eugene Kaspersky, chair and CEO of Kaspersky Lab, compares his company's efforts to those of John McClane, the hero policeman played by Bruce Willis in the
Die Hard films.
"Alas, John McClane isn't around to solve the problem of vulnerable industrial systems, and even if he were – his usual methods of choice wouldn't work," Kaspersky
writes. "So it comes down to KL to save the world, naturally!"
