Lebanon banks under attack by virus Gauss
A new computer virus tied to some of the most sophisticated
cyberweapons thus-far discovered has been found circulating in the
Middle East, a Moscow-based computer security company said Thursday. If a
link were confirmed, the find would expand the electronic arsenal
reportedly deployed by the US and Israel against their rivals in the
region.
Kaspersky Lab ZAO said in a statement that the new virus, dubbed “Gauss,’’ was aimed at stealing financial information from customers of a series of Lebanese banks.
The researchers said the target banks included several of Lebanon’s largest — the Bank of Beirut, Blom Bank, Byblos Bank and Credit Libanais — along with Citibank and the online payment system PayPal.
The firm said that similarities in coding, structure, and operation meant it could say “with a high degree of certainty’’ that Gauss was related to “Flame,’’ spyware which prompted an Internet blackout across Iran’s oil industry in April, and to “Stuxnet,’’ a worm whose discovery revolutionised the cybersecurity field.
Lebanon experts said that an American cyber espionage campaign directed at Lebanon’s banking system would seem to be a plausible possibility, given Washington’s concerns that the country’s banks are being used as a financial conduit for the Syrian government and for Hezbollah, the Lebanese militant group and political party. The statement acknowledged that much remained unclear about the virus’s capabilities, including its ultimate purpose.
Source: http://www.indianexpress.com/news/lebanon-banks-under-attack-by-virus-gauss/986827/
Kaspersky Lab ZAO said in a statement that the new virus, dubbed “Gauss,’’ was aimed at stealing financial information from customers of a series of Lebanese banks.
The researchers said the target banks included several of Lebanon’s largest — the Bank of Beirut, Blom Bank, Byblos Bank and Credit Libanais — along with Citibank and the online payment system PayPal.
The firm said that similarities in coding, structure, and operation meant it could say “with a high degree of certainty’’ that Gauss was related to “Flame,’’ spyware which prompted an Internet blackout across Iran’s oil industry in April, and to “Stuxnet,’’ a worm whose discovery revolutionised the cybersecurity field.
Lebanon experts said that an American cyber espionage campaign directed at Lebanon’s banking system would seem to be a plausible possibility, given Washington’s concerns that the country’s banks are being used as a financial conduit for the Syrian government and for Hezbollah, the Lebanese militant group and political party. The statement acknowledged that much remained unclear about the virus’s capabilities, including its ultimate purpose.
Source: http://www.indianexpress.com/news/lebanon-banks-under-attack-by-virus-gauss/986827/
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