I Spy With My Little Eye, The NSA… But Why?
The Kaspersky Lab discovered that the National Security Agency (NSA) was spying on customers of the top manufactured computers. Kaspersky is a Moscow-based security software maker that has exposed a series of Western cyberespionage operations.
Kaspersky said they found personal computers in 30 countries infected with one or more of the spying programs, with the largest number of infected computers were found in Iran, followed by Russia, Pakistan, Afghanistan, China, Mali, Syria, Yemen, and Algeria.
The targets that the NSA were trying to spy on included government and military institutions, telecommunication companies, banks, energy companies, nuclear researchers, media, and Islamic activists.
Kaspersky did not identify explicitly the group that is affiliated with the NSA, though they said it used malware that was later found to be part of the Stuxnet computer worm. The Stuxnet is a computer worm that was discovered in June of 2010 which was designed to attack industrial programmable logic controllers (PLC’s). PLC’s allow the automation of electromechanical processes such as those used to control machinery on factory assembly lines and amusement rides.
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[/one_fourth][three_fourth_last]The Stuxnet was used in 2010 to cripple Iran’s nuclear program and is widely believed to have been deployed by Israel and NSA. Intelligence agencies in the U.S. use techniques such as implanting malware on hard-drive firmware, to go after a limited number of high-value targets judged to be a threat to national security.
Kaspersky says that they believe the NSA is using what is called “The Equation Group.” This group uses an advanced program that can rewrite the firmware on hard drives and this is what makes The Equation Group so dangerous.
There are several ways that The Equation Group infects computers including CD-ROMs, USB sticks and Web-based exploits. They also have the ability to infect the hard drives and that is their most sophisticated arsenal weapon.
On Monday, Kaspersky gave some information that could help infected institutions detect the spying programs, some of which trace back as far as 2001. The Equation Group used a variety of means to spread other spying programs such as compromising Jihadist websites, infecting USB sticks, CD’s and developing a self-spreading computer worm called Fanny, which acted just like Stuxnet.
What do you think about the NSA spying? Leave us a comment below.
