According
to officials, the virus covertly monitored and mapped Iran's computer networks,
and data was retrieved and steadily sent back to prepare for a cyberwarfare
campaign. Included in the effort to
develop and deploy the software was the National Security Agency (NSA), the
Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), and Israel's military. The efforts also included destructive
software such as the Stuxnet virus which caused malfunctions in Iran's
Nuclear-enrichment facilities.
According
to one former high-ranking U.S. intelligence official: "This is about
preparing the battlefield for another type of covert action [...]
Cyber-collection against the Iranian program is way further down the road than
this." The official also indicated
that Flame and Stuxnet were elements of a larger assault that continues even
today.
Eugene
Kaspersky, whose security lab recently discovered the Flame virus that had been
used against Iran says that there should be an immediate global effort designed
to stop what he calls cyber terrorism.
"It's not cyber war, it's cyber terrorism and I'm afraid it's just
the beginning of the game [...] I'm afraid it will be the end of the world as
we know it [...] I'm scared, believe me."
Roel Schuwenberg, a senior researcher
at Kaspersky Lab said: "We are now 100 percent sure that the Flame and
Stuxnet groups worked together [...] The fact that the Flame group shared their
source code with the Stuxnet group shows they cooperated at least once."
Cyber
security experts say that Flame is one of the most sophisticated malware codes
that has ever been discovered, and believe that it was released to specifically
infect computer systems in Iran and in rival regimes across the Middle East.
It
seems as though news of cyber warfare, cyber attacks, cyber terrorism is on the
rise. These are interesting times to be
part of information security. I don't
foresee a slowdown in the development of more advanced cyber attack methods,
programs, or code, if I had to guess, the cyber battle space will continue to grow
and will be the new frontier for a new kind of war. It's going to be an interesting few years to
be sure!
References:
Heyes,
J.D. (2012). Flame malware, creted by US government, could wreck critical
infrastructure. Retrieved 21 June,
2012, from: http://www.infowars.com/flame-malware-created-by-us-government-could-wreck-critical-infrastructure/
Rey,
F. (2012). US and
Israel developed flame maware to cripple Iranian nuclear power program. Retrieved 21 June, 2012, from: http://socialbarrel.com/flame-malware-nuclear-power-program/39261/
THN
Security Analyst (2012). US and Israel developed flame malware
against Iran. Retrieved 21 June,
2012, from: http://thehackernews.com/2012/06/us-and-israel-developed-flame-malware.html
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