Virus created solely for espionage

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Researchers have uncovered a new sophisticated virus that could possibly be developed with the help of state sponsored funds.

This said virus, dubbed as Skywiper, Flamer and Flame, is considered to be one of the most complex malwares ever developed and could be created solely for spying purposes.

Similar to the Stuxnet malware, this new virus is multiple times larger than the former and analysts hinted that the Flame was developed by either Israel or the United States considering the new malware’s sophistication.

A senior researcher in Kaspersky Labs said, “It’s very likely it’s two teams working effectively on the same program but using two very different approaches.”

According to CrySys, this malware may have been in cyberspace for over 8 years already. To gather information from target individuals, it uses keyboard strokes, activating microphones to record conversations and taking screen shots.

This sophisticated virus can also use Bluetooth to send and receive commands and data.

Antivirus giant Kaspersky has recorded infections in Iran, Israel and other Middle Eastern countries. Infected computers belong to educational institutions, state related organizations and individuals.

They also said in their blog that, “we would position Flame as a project running parallel to Stuxnet and DuQu.”

Image Source: technology.plidd.com