Researchers Find 'Astonishing' Malware Linked To NSA Spying

[SweX 871]

Security researchers have uncovered highly sophisticated malware that is linked to a secret National Security Agency hacking operation exposed by The Intercept last year. 

 

Russian security firm Kaspersky published a report Monday documenting the malware, which it said had been used to infect thousands of computer systems and steal data in 30 countries around the world. Among the targets were a series of unnamed governments, telecom, energy, and aerospace companies, as well as Islamic scholars, and media organizations. 

 

Kaspersky did not name the NSA as the author of the malware. However, Reuters reported later on Monday that the agency had created the technology, citing anonymous former U.S. intelligence officials. 

 

Kaspersky’s researchers noted that the newly found malware is similar to Stuxnet, a covert tool reportedly created by the U.S. government to sabotage Iranian nuclear systems. The researchers also identified a series of codenames that they found contained within the samples of malware, including STRAIGHTACID, STRAITSHOOTER, and GROK.

 

https://firstlook.org/theintercept/2015/02/17/nsa-kaspersky-equation-group-malware/

[TJP 143]

And governments wonder why people who elect them into power distrust them

 

Good on Kaspersky for discovering the malware; it won't mean I return to KIS anytime soon

[SweX 871]

Good on Kaspersky for discovering the malware; it won't mean I return to KIS anytime soon

 

Yes, some AV vendors does this type of research which I think is very good and interesting, there are also other IT security companies that also does this type of research, so I'm sure we'll see something similar being reported in the future. I just hope this won't get worse and worse and more advanced and complicated in the future, it's enough as it is already!

Edited February 18, 2015 by SweX

[SweX 871]

The agency is said to have compromised hard drive firmware for more than a dozen top brands, including Seagate, Western Digital, IBM, Toshiba, Samsung and Maxtor, Kaspersky researchers revealed.

 

Kaspersky's analysis says the NSA made a breakthrough by infecting hard disk firmware with malware known only as nls_933w.dll capable of persisting across machine wipes to re-infect targeted systems.

 

hxxp://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/02/17/kaspersky_labs_equation_group/

[yongsua 16]

Kaspersky's analysis says the NSA made a breakthrough by infecting hard disk firmware with malware known only as nls_933w.dll capable of persisting across machine wipes to re-infect targeted systems.

 

hxxp://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/02/17/kaspersky_labs_equation_group/

Does it mean the malware will still stay in the infected system although the system is reformatted? It sounds sophisticated.