Flame Virus Update: UK Servers Used to Control Malware

Flame Virus Update: UK Servers Used to Control Malware

www.ibtimes.co.uk

Flame, the most complex piece of malware ever discovered, and which has been used to carry out cyber-espionage primarily in the Middle East, was controlled using servers in countries like the UK, Hong Kong and Switzerland over the last four years.

Following an investigation prompted by the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), Kaspersky Lab and CrySyS Lab in Hungary discovered the Flame virus, whose complexity exceeds all other known cyber menaces to date.

(visit the link for the full news article)


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Related AboveTopSecret.com Discussion Threads:
US officials confirm Stuxnet was a joint US-Israeli op

Interesting! They say the servers are located within the UK, Switzerland and Hong Kong. This doesn't potentially mean that these countries are involved, it could possibly be that the group behind it,( US officials confirm Stuxnet was a joint US-Israeli op )could have just used those countries as a 'front' to run the malware, although it does seem pretty suspicious!

A new update on the Flame virus from Kaspersky Lab, entitled The Roof is on Fire: Tackling Flame's C&C Servers reveals that several hours after the discovery was made public on 28 May, the Flame command-and-control (C&C) infrastructure, which had been operating for years, "went dark."

Kaspersky report mentioned

Whaat! 4 years and then it just goes dark.. obviously they packed up and got out of there before someone found out where they were!
Check out the spread so far of the Flame virus,

This map is scary.. did anyone else know it had spread to the US and Canada?!
(from original article)

Currently there are more than 80 known domains used by Flame for C&C servers and its related domains, which have been registered between 2008 and 2012.

During the past four years, servers hosting the Flame C&C infrastructure moved between multiple locations, including Hong Kong, Turkey, Germany, Poland, Malaysia, Latvia, the United Kingdom and Switzerland

Crazy! Here is an article from today, an interview with Kaspersky. He describes how dangerous these malware programs can be, even calling it:
'End of the world as we know it': Kaspersky warns of cyber-terror apocalypse

After his eponymously-named lab discovered Flame, "the most sophisticated cyber weapon yet unleashed," Eugene Kaspersky believes that the evolving threat of “cyber terrorism” could spell the end of life on Earth as we know it.
­Doomsday scenarios are a common occurrence in 2012, but coming from a steely-eyed realist like Eugene Kaspersky, his calls for a global effort to halt emerging cyber threats should raise alarm bells.
A global Internet blackout and crippling attacks against key infrastructure are among two possible cyber-pandemics he outlined.
"It's not cyber war, it's cyber terrorism, and I'm afraid the game is just beginning. Very soon, many countries around the world will know it beyond a shadow of a doubt,” Kaspersky told reporters at a Tel Aviv University cyber security conference.

AND

A global Internet blackout and crippling attacks against key infrastructure are among two possible cyber-pandemics he outlined.
"It's not cyber war, it's cyber terrorism, and I'm afraid the game is just beginning. Very soon, many countries around the world will know it beyond a shadow of a doubt,” Kaspersky told reporters at a Tel Aviv University cyber security conference.
“I'm afraid it will be the end of the world as we know it," he warned. "I'm scared, believe me."

I feel that he is sadly right, and it could spell MAJOR disaster in terms of what the extent of the damage could be! The map above shows that it can spread all over the world, even into N.A.. Imagine the potential power of this 'cyber weapon'.. its insane!!

One more tidbit,
Kaspersky was speaking at the Tel Aviv University cyber security conference, and guess who was there gloating about their weapon and the ongoing cyber-war:

CNN) -- Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak, at the second annual International Cyber Security Conference in Tel Aviv, said Wednesday that his country was engaged in a new battle frontier.

Israeli Defense Chief Outlines Computer Security Needs

Do you think the release and recent attack was done to show off before this conference?! I would not be suprised at all!

Thoughts?!

www.ibtimes.co.uk
(visit the link for the full news article)

Good the servers can be seized overnight and the owners arrested by swat teams while false charges can be laid against them...wait, if only it was hosting movies!

It's becoming quite definitive that a world power most likely Western is behind this setup.
Their must be trail left somewhere, installation's these big require allot of money and technical expertise.

reply to post by Nspekta


That hasn't spread much yet. Green is 1-6 IPs, so that could be a single computer carrying the virus. If the map suggests that it is only on under 1000 systems currently then it could very well be contained. Why malware this complex would be designed by a government agency confuses me, as this is the equivalent of a cyber nuke.

Could there be a correlation between this and the mega computing area that was reported on ATS recently?

It’s also quite unique in the way it steals information. It’s possible to steal different types of information with the help of this spyware tool. It can record audio if a microphone is attached to the infected system, it can do screen captures and transmit visual data. It can steal information from the input boxes when they are hidden behind asterisks, password fields; it can get information from there.Also it can scan for locally visible Bluetooth devices if there is a Bluetooth adapter attached to the local system.

‘Flame’ Virus explained: How it works and who’s behind it

If this is used on the public's computers to capture info from their computer they would need a lot of room to store it. Do you think these two could be linked?

reply to post by Nspekta


This stinks of government. Everyone knows the free masses and terrorist alike use the internet for promoting their views, recruiting, and communication. it doesn't make sense anyone other than a small group of people already in control looking to control the ability of the masses to organize communicate and learn. Losing the internet is more damning for those beneath it than those above.

reply to post by Ilyich


The way I see it is that TPTB have more than one internet, infact if you think about all the agencies in the world their will be loads of closed circuit webs.So yes the only people this will effect on a large scale would most likely be the average people on Earth

So if the world wide web was destroyed or rendered un-usable Obama and Cameron will most likely be still facebooking each other

I also wonder how quick Countries could shut down sections of the web and use them under relative safety? say if their was a giant virus attack

I fail to understand what this virus will do to the pc....if it just spys on the content its not hurting anthing.......
Secondly, it would apear that the discovery of the virus has shut down the user of it. and the virus remains rampant out there....but what good is a spy device with no place to report?
I am sure these criminals will again contact the pcs which they wish to observe for whatever they are up to.....thats the way to catch these dudes......certainly Kaspersky could come up with something that they could add to the virus which would return with a regular report and screw up the users system in revenge coulds they not?