Sunday, September 26, 2010

Iran: Did Siemens Grow a Conscience?

In an interesting column in PajamasMedia entitled "Cyber War on Iran: the Siemens Connection", Roger L. Simon suggests that Siemens might have assisted Israel in infecting Iranian industrial facilities with Stuxnet. Mr. Simon writes:

"In all likelihood Israel did not act entirely alone — there were too many moving parts to this attack — and I am going now to suggest another ally — the German electronics giant Siemens AG."

http://pajamasmedia.com/rogerlsimon/2010/09/25/cyber-war-on-iran-the-siemens-connection/?singlepage=true

Again, it is of no interest to me who is ultimately responsible for the "deed". However, regarding Siemens, I would observe the following information from a Reuters January 2010 article:

"Siemens, which is Europe's biggest engineering conglomerate, was aware of the sensitivities attached to doing business in Iran, Chief Executive Peter Loescher said.

'Some time ago, we reduced our business activities with customers in Iran,' Loescher said, responding to questions at a shareholders meeting.

The Siemens board decided at the start of October not to agree to any further orders with customers in Iran, he added, noting, however, that existing orders would be fulfilled.

Loescher said there were still bids submitted by Siemens before October 2009. If they were not accepted, it would mean new business in Iran would end by mid-2010."

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSLDE60P1LJ20100126?loomia_ow=t0:s0:a49:g43:r1:c1.000000:b30083910:z0

Or stated more simply, Siemens claims it is terminating its business with Iran, however, it also says that it will continue to fulfill existing orders, and, if its tenders submitted to Iran before October 2009 are accepted, these apparently will also be honored.

Thanks, Siemens, for your kind and very thoughtfully worded assurances.

1 comment:

  1. I worry about Siemens. Even without this playful idea that it sabotaged its own equipment, its reputation as well as its software are seriously compromised. They can go ahead and continue working with Iran, to the benefit of some third party.

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