U.S., Israel Developed Flame Computer Virus
June 20th, 2012Via: Washington Post:
The United States and Israel jointly developed a sophisticated computer virus nicknamed Flame that collected intelligence in preparation for cyber-sabotage aimed at slowing Iran’s ability to develop a nuclear weapon, according to Western officials with knowledge of the effort.
The massive piece of malware secretly mapped and monitored Iran’s computer networks, sending back a steady stream of intelligence to prepare for a cyberwarfare campaign, according to the officials.
The effort, involving the National Security Agency, the CIA and Israel’s military, has included the use of destructive software such as the Stuxnet virus to cause malfunctions in Iran’s nuclear-enrichment equipment.
The emerging details about Flame provide new clues to what is thought to be the first sustained campaign of cyber-sabotage against an adversary of the United States.
“This is about preparing the battlefield for another type of covert action,” said one former high-ranking U.S. intelligence official, who added that Flame and Stuxnet were elements of a broader assault that continues today. “Cyber-collection against the Iranian program is way further down the road than this.”
Flame came to light last month after Iran detected a series of cyberattacks on its oil industry. The disruption was directed by Israel in a unilateral operation that apparently caught its American partners off guard, according to several U.S. and Western officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity.
There has been speculation that the United States had a role in developing Flame, but the collaboration on the virus between Washington and Israel has not been previously confirmed. Commercial security researchers last week reported that Flame contained some of the same code as Stuxnet. Experts described the overlap as DNA-like evidence that the two sets of malware were parallel projects run by the same entity.
Spokesmen for the CIA, the NSA and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, as well as the Israeli Embassy in Washington, declined to comment.
between chinese chips and MS’s sudden and surprising interest in hardware, the day may come when the only boats that’ll float in a toxic stew of an internet are approved ones (with built in shields). shields that also do double duty data harvesting.
the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade pact may shield this little international dance as well.
-while maybe doing double duty itself in other ways, such as shielding trans-nats from indictments for monster U.S. national campaign contributions -a workaround to Citizens United…
sure does seem Citizens United is getting some pushback finally, and praps too easily. i wouldn’t be surprised to see it kicked to the curb -once workarounds are in place.
suddenly
everything seems to be doing double duty, and it’s all in secret, and it’s all integrated, and it’s all in a hurry. while the past year has been one of surprising changes to me (i’m slow & behind the times, what can i say) given apps, the cloud, tablets, et al virtually defining for me the ‘war on general computation’, the increased propensity for governments themselves to make viruses bespeaks of a way to lock out the internet in general should they wish by making it toxic…