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Top German official infected by spy trojan with NSA ties

10 points by r721 11y ago

junto 11y ago
From the original Spiegel article in English concerning Regin: http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/regin-malware-unmasked-as-nsa-tool-after-spiegel-publishes-source-code-a-1015255.html http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/regin-malware-unma... "Pursuant to our technical analysis, QWERTY is identical with the Regin plug-in 50251," Raiu says. In addition, the analysis revealed that Regin is apparently an attack platform that can be used by several different institutions in several different countries. Kaspersky published its findings in a blog post on Tuesday. The new analysis provides clear proof that Regin is in fact the cyber-attack platform belonging to the Five Eyes alliance, which includes the US, Britain, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. Neither Kaspersky nor Symantec commented directly on the likely creator of Regin. But there can be little room left for doubt regarding the malware's origin. The source code excerpt published by SPIEGEL comes straight from the Snowden archive. Regin was also apparently involved in the attack on the Belgian telecommunications firm Belgacom. And Belgacom, as SPIEGEL reported in the summer of 2013, was a target of the British intelligence agency GCHQ. Ronald Prins, head of the Dutch security company Fox IT, which analyzed the attack on Belgacom, told SPIEGEL ONLINE in the summer of 2011 that Regin appeared to be a tool belonging to the NSA and GCHQ. There are also additional clues pointing to Regin being a Five Eyes tool: - In the QWERTY code, there are numerous references to cricket, a sport that enjoys extreme popularity in the Commonwealth. - There are many similarities with the cyber-weapons system that the intelligence agencies call "Warriorpride" in the Snowden documents. - The targets thus far known are consistent with Five Eyes surveillance targets as outlined in the Snowden documents. A serious cyber-attack on the European Commission in 2011. The deputy head of Germany's Federal Office for Information Security, Andreas Könen, told SPIEGEL at the end of last December that, "we have reconstructed that; there are clear congruencies." The Austrian newspaper Der Standard, citing anonymous sources, reported last November that malware code from the Regin family had been found in the network of the International Atomic Energy Agency, based in Vienna. Germany's Bild newspaper also reported a Regin infection in the computer of a member of the department for European affairs in Angela Merkel's Chancellery. According to the paper, the malware was found on the woman's private computer. The Federal Office for Information Security says that Regin has not yet been found on official German government computers. It seems likely that more Regin discoveries will be made. Kaspersky alone, says Raiu, has found the malware in computers belonging to 27 international companies, governments and private persons.
godgod 11y ago
Anyone have a sample of the malware?
jakeogh 11y ago
Unfortunate how people tasked with protecting information so often still use Windows.

10 points by r721 11y ago

junto 11y ago

From the original Spiegel article in English concerning Regin: http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/regin-malware-unmasked-as-nsa-tool-after-spiegel-publishes-source-code-a-1015255.html http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/regin-malware-unma... "Pursuant to our technical analysis, QWERTY is identical with the Regin plug-in 50251," Raiu says. In addition, the analysis revealed that Regin is apparently an attack platform that can be used by several different institutions in several different countries. Kaspersky published its findings in a blog post on Tuesday. The new analysis provides clear proof that Regin is in fact the cyber-attack platform belonging to the Five Eyes alliance, which includes the US, Britain, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. Neither Kaspersky nor Symantec commented directly on the likely creator of Regin. But there can be little room left for doubt regarding the malware's origin. The source code excerpt published by SPIEGEL comes straight from the Snowden archive. Regin was also apparently involved in the attack on the Belgian telecommunications firm Belgacom. And Belgacom, as SPIEGEL reported in the summer of 2013, was a target of the British intelligence agency GCHQ. Ronald Prins, head of the Dutch security company Fox IT, which analyzed the attack on Belgacom, told SPIEGEL ONLINE in the summer of 2011 that Regin appeared to be a tool belonging to the NSA and GCHQ. There are also additional clues pointing to Regin being a Five Eyes tool: - In the QWERTY code, there are numerous references to cricket, a sport that enjoys extreme popularity in the Commonwealth. - There are many similarities with the cyber-weapons system that the intelligence agencies call "Warriorpride" in the Snowden documents. - The targets thus far known are consistent with Five Eyes surveillance targets as outlined in the Snowden documents. A serious cyber-attack on the European Commission in 2011. The deputy head of Germany's Federal Office for Information Security, Andreas Könen, told SPIEGEL at the end of last December that, "we have reconstructed that; there are clear congruencies." The Austrian newspaper Der Standard, citing anonymous sources, reported last November that malware code from the Regin family had been found in the network of the International Atomic Energy Agency, based in Vienna. Germany's Bild newspaper also reported a Regin infection in the computer of a member of the department for European affairs in Angela Merkel's Chancellery. According to the paper, the malware was found on the woman's private computer. The Federal Office for Information Security says that Regin has not yet been found on official German government computers. It seems likely that more Regin discoveries will be made. Kaspersky alone, says Raiu, has found the malware in computers belonging to 27 international companies, governments and private persons.

godgod 11y ago

Anyone have a sample of the malware?

jakeogh 11y ago

Unfortunate how people tasked with protecting information so often still use Windows.