Is the country secured and intelligent enough to hold this virus and come over it, let’s see who is going to get hit and who is going to survive this massive hit and the most deadly virus till date. Flame may be the most powerful computer virus in history, and a nation-state is most likely to blame for unleashing it on the World Wide Web. Flame is so powerful that it can destroy everything and make your computer a minature data bomb to explore and exploit the data inside your computer and use every peripherals including the camera and your chipset.
Iran appears to be the primary target of the data-snatching virus that has swept through the Middle East, though other countries have also been affected.The sheer complexity of the virus and its targets has led Moscow-based Kaspersky Lab to believe a state is behind the attack.
Kaspersky first spotted the virus in 2010, though it may have been wrecking havoc on computer systems for many years.
Here are five key facts about Flame, according to researchers with Kaspersky Lab:
Complexity: It is one of the most sophisticated pieces of malicious software ever discovered. It has about 20 times as much code than Stuxnet. It is built with some 20 modules – researchers still don’t understand the full purpose of most of them.
Breadth: It is the most complete data-stealing tools found to date. It can record sounds, access Bluetooth communications, capture regular screenshot images and log Internet Messaging conversations.
Network: The creators of the virus used a network of some 80 servers across Asia, Europe and North America to remotely access infected machines. They can change settings on personal computers and quietly gather the stolen data. It is the largest such Command and Control network identified to date.
Victims: The largest number of infected computers were found in Iran, followed by Israel and the Palestinian territories. The virus also turned up in Sudan, Syria, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia andEgypt. Kaspersky researchers estimate that altogether between 1,000 and 5,000 machines were infected worldwide.
Perpetrator: Kaspersky researchers decline to say which nation or nations they believe are behind Flame. The creators of Stuxnet and Flame employed similar techniques to infect computers, which suggests that they were “parallel” projects backed by the same nation state.
