![]() ![]() ![]() This would have given the leaders of the campaign the ability to eavesdrop selectively, steal files, and even establish full remote control over machines. The advanced hacking operation was described as "as astonishing technical accomplishment" by the Russian researchers as the spies figured out how to lodge malicious software in the hard disk firmware, which launches every time a computer is turned on and is able to infect the device over and over. Kaspersky is calling the group of spying programs 'The Equation Group', adding that it is "a threat actor that surpasses anything known in terms of complexity and sophistication of techniques, and that has been active for almost two decades." Stuxnet was the NSA-led cyberweapon which was used to attack a nuclear plant in Iran. The spying operation is said to be just one of a cluster of different spying programs found by Kaspersky Labs, which suggested that that the campaign had "solid links" to the creators of Stuxnet. However, the firm declined to directly accuse the US government or its agencies as behind the spying campaign. ![]() The countries targeted have been priorities for US intelligence agency attention for many years and targets included government and military institutions, telecommunication companies, banks, energy companies, nuclear researchers, media, and Islamic activists, Kaspersky said. The Russian researchers and former cyber espionage operatives are reported to have found software hidden deep in hard drives manufactured by Western Digital, Seagate, Toshiba and others, in PCs that were used in 30 countries including Iran, Pakistan, Russia, Syria and China. ![]() The tweaked firmware would give the agency a means to spy on computers all around the globe with the "ultimate persistence and invisibility," according to Kaspersky Labs, a Moscow-based cyber security company. The US National Security Agency (NSA) has been indirectly blamed for planting spyware in hard disks built by some of the world's largest manufacturers. ![]()
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