Flame Espionage Malware Seeks Middle East Data
Flame malware, described as the most complex ever discovered, has the markings of Western intelligence agencies. Security researchers believe it's been gathering information from Iran, Lebanon, Syria, and other countries since at least 2010.
Step aside, Stuxnet: Newly discovered espionage and information-gathering malware known Flame, Flamer, Skywiper (sKyWIper), and Wiper appears to be even more sophisticated than the Stuxnet virus discovered in 2010, and to have long infected PCs in numerous countries including Egypt, Iran, Israel, Lebanon, Palestine, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, and Syria.
Iran's National Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT) Monday confirmed that Iranian PCs had been targeted and infected by Flame, and said that it had created and distributed a detection and removal tool to "selected organizations and companies" earlier this month. According to the Iran CERT analysis, the malware can spread via networks and removable drives, and receives instructions from at least 10 command-and-control servers, communicating via SSH and HTTPS protocols. The malware can infect Windows XP, Vista, and 7, systems, and includes the ability to scan systems and networks, extract passwords, record audio, and capture event-triggered screen grabs. Read full story on InformationWeek
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