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‘Flame’ Virus explained: How it works and who’s behind it

May 29, 2012 19:58

Flame may be the most powerful computer virus in history, and a nation-state is most likely to blame for unleashing it on the World Wide Web.Kaspersky's chief malware expert Vitaly Kamlyuk shared with RT the ins and outs of Stuxnet on steroids.

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Comments (46) Sort by: Highest rating Oldest first Newest first

Anonymous user 21.02.2013 18:50

when i know how to code i'll make my own anti vius

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Allen (unregistered) 01.02.2013 15:46

I agree with your last point there VK as the human race will lose if we keep on fighting against each other. There is really no point to fighting each other. The real threat are these viruses and how we can deal with them before they infect robots and create 'Decepticons'.  S.T.E.E.L.L.I.O.N.

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Ivan (unregistered) 13.10.2012 03:40

Stuxnet is kinda like pandora's box once you open it you cant close what came out

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jsebean 12.09.2012 14:53

I'm suprised countries attacked by these even still use Microsoft software. I am proud to say my eyes have been open, I've known for a long time Microsoft (and companies similar) have been evil, it's the exact reason why I use Ubuntu Linux at home and for all my work online. I don't use Ubuntu because it "supports more software" or "works better" (though I would say it works better :P), I use it because it's free, open source so everyone knows what goes into it, what the updates are etc. I try to stay as far away as possible from closed companies and corporations, for obvious reasons, this is a pure example of the corruption that can occur.

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Gordon Jenkins (unregistered) 09.06.2012 01:12

Why was Iraq not infected with the Flame virus, but Israel was?Why was "Lua" (portugese for "moon") code used?  Is Lua not used on other Microsoft products such as XBOX, and their mobile devices?   Why is Linux free from the Flame virus?Why is nobody mentioning the high priority target names of  General Keith B. Alexander at the United States Cyber Command in Fort Meade, Maryland and Col. Kevin B. Wooton of the 67th Network Warfare Wing at Lackland Air Force Base, San Antonio, Texas?

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Dauser (unregistered) 02.06.2012 18:08

Anyone remember Sub7 or Backoffice. I remember taking over a friends computer maybe 10 years ago with some of the features mentioned.  A comment advised on the size not meaning the virus is overly complex. I agree the larger the bigger the footprint the less effeciant. The size will simply be due to the ammount of features built in.  Alternatively it could be a form of masking to make the code appear as spagetti code making it alot harder to decipher. I may be wrong but this doesnt sound like anything overly great to me.  Also the first comment i read blamed Israel. I beleive there was another artical blaming Mr Obama for the stuxnet worm why not throw the US in with that comment or do we consider them one in the same these days.....(this is not intended as an anti US/Israel comment)  

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jj (unregistered) 02.06.2012 04:31

well, i follow the old golden rule "if you want to know who's responsible, see who gains something from it". wasn't the virus found into iranian nuclear reactors pcs? who would do something like that? surely not israel and the us right, it musta have been those russian mafia or the chicoms

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Bob (unregistered) 01.06.2012 04:06

I suspect the reporter was being led down the primrose path. 
First, if I was going to write a virus program, it would be written in a language such as C or assembly language, which means, once compiled, there would be no trace of the language of the coder(s). Of course, character strings would typically be in English and you don't have to be an English speaking native to create those strings. 
Second , since more people who use computers have a basic understanding of "English Computer jargon", it wouldn't be hard for an intelligent hacker to use that jargon - after all, how many people in other countries install a lnaguage pack that is native to another country - you are more apt to see English than anything else outside the native user's language. 
Third , if the Kapersky person was able to determine the code was "written in English", it should not take a year or more to determine how it works. 
I suspect the Kapersky person is laughing his backside off for pulling a fast one on some unsuspecting reporter. Of course, those in the know, know that virus was written by little chartreuse fuzzy people from the planet Mordu in the Andromeda galaxy, just to drive us Earthlings nuts. 

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tehehe (unregistered) 01.06.2012 00:24

Now let's see, this thing is written to spy on people, now who would do
a thing, like that?  Russians?  Oh never, they are democratic
and believe in freedom! Must be those nasty Isreal and The U.S.A! 
LOL funny to see how naive you are in to trusting anothe r government. 

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ferosh (unregistered) 31.05.2012 21:28

why isn't there a law against it on international level? This is a totally a criminal activity on a huge scale. Individuals are jailed for something like that on a small scale, chased down by Interpol and FBI. There should be a $100 Billion penalty for any state/country and the money should go to the international charity fund. It should be branded criminal on the international level, and the country doing that should be economically punished and boycotted.

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Conundrum (unregistered) 31.05.2012 18:29

The thing about programs like this is that they are written by many people from different places only assembled after all pieces of the puzzle are complete. Traces of good English does not mean a thing, only that a coder  who writes good English is involved. For all we know, the coder may be unaware of the part he/she has played in creating this thing. Simply, a private company or individual with vast resources may be behind this. But considering the target is the Middle East (for now), I say a govt or a coalition of them are behind this. I say the usual suspects. I still don't know why they hide. They have the world pinned to the ground already.

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GudEngrish (unregistered) 31.05.2012 17:07

It's obvious that the nation is Israel.  If it was the U.S.  The English would look like this:
gud eenglish r u serious?  l337 engrish is USA.  pwned.

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Logan (unregistered) 31.05.2012 16:52

The term is actually "wreak havoc". It's a bit archaic.

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someAmerikan (unregistered) 31.05.2012 13:32

Good English - well that rules out the USA because everyone that learns english here is sub-standard to those that learn it abroad. The way we speak everyday impacts our gramattical skills and we tend to make up words as we go. Proper English would lead me to beleive it was someone that learned the language, but did not speak it. 

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GerVal (unregistered) 31.05.2012 12:27

Good english? What is the meaning of that. Around the world there are a LOT of people that can read, speak and  W-r-i-t-e  very good english and are from Asia, South America, Europe (not England).

Eng lish is the most used language to write programs, because almost all the programming languages use english commands.

So my point is, look at the target, and maybe you can find the source.  And... Who is the target of 'Flame'?

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T.K (unregistered) 31.05.2012 11:14

now i know why my network had activity when i wasn't using it, and i have microsoft security essentials and bitdefender total security... i guess antivirus programs are useless against governments

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