and Israeli governments
(CBS/AP) LONDON – Computer security firm Kaspersky says it has discovered a new batch of malicious software linked to the infrastructure-wrecking Stuxnet virus. In a statement Thursday the Moscow-based company said it had found a virus dubbed “Gauss” which it said was aimed at stealing financial information from its mainly Middle Eastern victims. Kaspersky Lab ZAO said that the newly-discovered virus shared similarities in terms of structure and operation with Flame, a program aimed at vacuuming information from target computers. Flame in turn shared similarities with Stuxnet, a program experts believe was designed to sabotage Iran’s disputed nuclear program. Both pieces of malicious software have been attributed to the U.S. and Israeli governments. Kaspersky’s statement said that all three viruses likely came from the same “factory” or “factories.” In a “60 Minutes” broadcast in March, correspondent Steve Kroft reported that Stuxnet was first detected and isolated by a tiny company in Belarus after one of its clients in Iran complained about a software glitch in June of 2010. Within a month, a copy of the computer bug was being analyzed within a tight knit community of computer security experts, and it appeared to be the first salvo in a new era of warfare. In June, a new virus called “Flame”, was unleashed. It was a massive, data-slurping cyberweapon circulating in the Middle East, and computers in Iran appear to...
Read More
Comentarios recientes