Kaspersky Labs eksperter har afdækket ny, sofistikeret malware identificeret som Worm.Win32.Flame – populært kaldet Flame,  hvis kompleksitet og funktionalitet overgår alle andre cyber-trusler til dato. Flame har været anvendt som cyber-våben til angreb af selskaber i flere lande til at spionere og stjæle følsomme oplysninger, herunder oplysninger om netværkstraffik – og som tilmed er i stand til at tage screenshots og optage audio.

Kaspersky Lab har identificeret Flame som et led i en efterforskning igangsat af International Telecommunications Union (ITU), der er FNs agentur for informations- og kommunikationsteknologi.

Duqu and Stuxnet raised the stakes in the cyber battles being fought in the Middle East – but now we’ve found what might be the most sophisticated cyber weapon yet unleashed. The ‘Flame’ cyber espionage worm came to the attention of our experts at Kaspersky Lab after the UN’s International Telecommunication Union came to us for help in finding an unknown piece of malware which was deleting sensitive information across the Middle East. While searching for that code – nicknamed Wiper – we discovered a new malware codenamed Worm.Win32.Flame.

Flame shares many characteristics with notorious cyber weapons Duqu and Stuxnet: while its features are different, the geography and careful targeting of attacks coupled with the usage of specific software vulnerabilities seems to put it alongside those familiar ‘super-weapons’ currently deployed in the Middle East by unknown perpetrators. Flame can easily be described as one of the most complex threats ever discovered. It’s big and incredibly sophisticated. It pretty much redefines the notion of cyberwar and cyberespionage.