Wired.com is reporting that Russian security researchers from Kaspersky Labs have found a sophisticated computer virus that is infecting computers in Iran and other Middle East countries. Indications are that the virus appears to be designed to gather private data from the targeted computer systems. Described by Kaspersky as sophisticated, the virus is known as “Flame” and was discovered as the security group was called in to analyze a different malicious threat.
The origin of the virus reportedly dates back to 2007, and it is being considered a state-sponsored group at the heart of the virus. Flame also appears to be much more sophisticated than the two previously discovered cyber weapons known as Duqu and Stuxnet. Once the Flame virus infects a system, it begins to collect network traffic, take screenshots, remotely change computer settings, initiates and records audio, and intercepts the keyboard input. Unlike Stuxnet, there does not appear to be a physical target. It is believed that Stuxnet was designed to attack the computer systems that drove Iran’s nuclear centrifuges, feeding the systems false data and causing the centrifuges to fail.
“It’s a very big chunk of code. Because of that, it’s quite interesting that it stayed undetected for at least two years,” Gostev said. He noted that there are clues that the malware may actually date back to as early as 2007, around the same time-period when Stuxnet and DuQu are believed to have been created”
Fully analyzing the Flame code may take several years. At 20MB in size, the code dwarfs the Stuxnet code by a factor of 20, but reports are that it utilizes the same flaw in Windows to exploit and spread. These similarities leave little conclusion but to assume that the development of this virus is state sponsored and the list of likely nations that could deploy such a weapon is rather small. The virus as described was designed to stay hidden and collect information for a good long time, while staying undetected. Given its size and all the monitoring and data collecting features that it is reported to have, the virus’ lineage no doubt has the hallmarks of a complex and targeted state sponsored development. Internalizing what this means to the security community today, one thing is for sure, that if this represents what was being released five years ago, then what is likely being produced today could be worlds more sophisticated, as it is in any five year advance in technology. More analysis will certainly be taking place in the days and weeks to come. Perhaps there will be even more surprises in store for the community to review.
[...] of Responsibility John Casaretto | May 31st READ MORE Tweet The recently discovered Flame cyberattack, believed to be directed primarily against Iran and collect data, has attracted significant [...]
[...] computers. The most recent one–and perhaps the most lethal–is Flame virus. It was detected by Russian security researchers from Kaspersky Labs, infecting units in Iran and other MidEast countries. Flame gathered private data from compromised [...]
[...] infecting computers. The most recent one–and perhaps the most lethal–is Flame virus. It was detected by Russian security researchers from Kaspersky Labs, infecting units in Iran and other MidEast countries. Flame gathered private data from compromised [...]
[...] infecting computers. The most recent one–and perhaps the most lethal–is Flame virus. It was detected by Russian security researchers from Kaspersky Labs, infecting units in Iran and other MidEast countries. Flame gathered private data from compromised [...]
[...] Ulteriori informazioni: http://siliconangle.com/blog/2012/05/29/flame-virus-is-the-latest-greatest-cyber-weapon-discovery/ [...]
[...] Mellisa Tolentino | June 12th READ MORE Tweet The cyberworld was shocked when it was reported that a certain malware was found which exceeded the prowess of the Stuxnet [...]
[...] cyberworld was shocked when it was reported that a certain malware was found which exceeded the prowess of the Stuxnet [...]
[...] | June 13th READ MORE Tweet Security experts have revealed that the creators of the Flame malware and the notorious Stuxnet worm, the two deadliest malicious programs ever discovered, likely [...]
[...] Into Data Mules Jun 13th, 2012 by sci-techs.com. The cyberworld was shocked when it was reported that a certain malware was found which exceeded the prowess of the Stuxnet [...]
[...] era of state-sponsored cyberwarfare starts, we have see lot of malware, actually dangerous ones. Flame virus was perhaps the greatest cyber weapon discovery. Designed to gather private data from the targeted computer systems in Iran and other Middle East [...]
[...] Flame was discovered back in May 2012, it was remarkable in that it had been able to install by posing as a Windows [...]
[...] Sejak Mei 2012, atau berselang hanya 6 bulan sebelum agresi Israel tersebut, di kawasan Timur Tengah, diam-diam sebenarnya sedang terjadi serangan Flame. Ini adalah nama sebutan untuk jenis virus data intelijen generasi baru. Kecanggihannya: dia bisa menguping pembicaraan, merekam file data, memotret secara diam-diam, hingga merusak infrastruktur data, informasi dan telekomunikasi. Lebih jauh tentang virus Flame, silakan klik di sini. [...]
[...] not well equipped to detect it. Not because state-sponsored malware—such as Stuxnet, Duqu, and Flame—happen to be particularly more sophisticated than what we see in the wild; but because many of [...]