Newly discovered malware linked to Stuxnet, Flame

http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/technology/newly-discovered-malware-linked-to-stuxnet-flame/2012/08/09/eef637b2-e23d-11e1-a25e-15067bb31849_story.html

Researchers said Thursday that they have identified a new kind of malicious software that appears to be the creation of the same state-sponsored program that produced the viruses known as Stuxnet and Flame.

The malware, the researchers said, shares characteristics with the previously identified viruses, which were aimed at computers tied to Iran’s nuclear program. But the new software has been found primarily in Lebanon. It is designed to steal information, including customer data from banks as well as PayPal and Citibank.


“Nation-states want to monitor activity,” said Roel Schouwenberg, senior researcher for Kaspersky Lab, the Russian cybersecurity firm that discovered the new malware and also discovered Flame. “Seeing how the money is flowing in these bank accounts can be very interesting for them.”

Stuxnet and Flame are believed to have been developed by the United States and Israel.