A recent rash of malware attacks has the Middle East worried. The Flame worm attacks put government officials on high alert and leaves many speculating the Isreal is to blame. The country’s vice prime minister Moshe Ya’alon quickly blew away the steam coming his direction with the following message, “There are quite a few governments in the west that have rich high-tech [capabilities] that view Iran, and particularly the Iranian nuclear threat, as a meaningful threat – and can possibly be involved with this field.”
Unfortunately, these comments only helped fuel more blame on his country.
Although The Flame has been operating since 2010, it was discovered earlier week. The malware experts at Kapersky Lab Research claim that this virus is the most sophisticated yet and that it appears to be “state-sponsored”. It was designed to take information from targeted system and files. Right now, the virus is still in its active phases and will continue to monitor systems infected in order to steal more sensitive information and find new systems to target.
There’s been other speculation that the United States is behind the attack. One anonymous official from the U.S. reportedly told NBC that it was our government instigating the cyber attacks yet had no first-hand knowledge to back it up. The United States government also denies any involvement. There was a previous high profile attack dubbed Stuxnet and it was rumored that Israel collaborated the the U.S. for that one.
Kapersky speculates that it could take many years to find the origins of The Flame. So far, no country has confirmed involvement with the virus.
Serious malware attacks and viruses are bad news for big companies and individuals, but they’re even worse for government agencies who store and work with sensitive information. This type of virus is a growing concerns for both corporations and Governments.