Researchers said today they have identified part of the powerful Flame cyber espionage program as a stand-alone, “highly flexible” spy program that centered its attacks on computer systems in Lebanon and Iran.
MiniFlame, as cyber experts at Moscow-based Kaspersky Labs dubbed the malware, is an “info-stealing” virus designed to hit only a few high-profile targets – perhaps just a few dozen computer systems. Kaspersky researchers said in a blog post they actually discovered MiniFlame in July but at the time believed it to be just a module within Flame.
The larger Flame virus was described by researchers as the most sophisticated cyber espionage program ever discovered and was a veritable “toolkit” for cyber spying programs. It could take remotely take screenshots of infected computers, record audio conversations that took place in the same room as the computer, intercept keyboard inputs and wipe data on command. Researchers said that malware infected thousand of computers, mostly in Iran.
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