Massive 'Flame' Malware Stealing Data Across Middle East

[TheTrueCentrist]

pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2404951,00.asp

Researchers at Kaspersky Lab have uncovered a massive cyber threat, dubbed Flame, that is targeting “sensitive” information across the Middle East.

The malware, Kaspersky said, “might be the most sophisticated cyber weapon yet unleashed.”

 

[Mrs_Sally]

Thanks for posting this. As part of my job, I track malware incidents like this that might affect my industry. I wonder if this one just began in the Middle East (they have to start somewhere) or if the perpetrators are specifically targetting Middle Eastern businesses/countries.

 

[mdgspencer]

Very interesting. This news does not preclude Iran or Israel being the source, then saying that it is affecting their systems to seem an innocent party.

 

[Dale_M]

Some additional information

The malware, discovered by Russia-based anti-virus firm Kaspersky Lab, is an espionage toolkit that has been infecting targeted systems in Iran, Lebanon, Syria, Sudan, the Israeli Occupied Territories and other countries in the Middle East and North Africa for at least two years.

The researchers say that Flame may be part of a parallel project created by contractors who were hired by the same nation-state team that was behind Stuxnet and its sister malware, DuQu.

wired.com/threatlevel/2012/05/flame/

The Wired.com article describes the malware in more detail. But what stood out to me is that Flame has been operating about as long as Stuxnet, and that it is not affecting Israel so much as Israel occupied territories.

(click picture to make it bigger)