Flame-New era of Cyber espionage

With announcements of discovery of a sophisticated malicious program named as ‘Flame’, the Cyber world is once again on alert, to expect more. Believed to be used as a cyber weapon to attack countries, Flame is being categorised as a highly complex and functionally rich malicious program, which holds the capabilities to reach beyond all other cyber menaces known till date.

FLAME has been tagged as the most complete data-stealing tools found ever. Flame has infected around, 1000 to 5000 computers infected worldwide. The targets include individuals, businesses, academic, and government institutions. Majority of the infections (189) were found to be in Iran. Sources believe it to have been designed to carry out cyber espionage by efficiently stealing all kinds of valuable-sensitive information. The malware seems to change the settings on infected computers and silently gathers required data. It is called to be the most sophisticated pieces of malicious software ever discovered and has about 20 times as much code than Stuxnet. Its build-up includes 20 modules, of which researchers are still to understand the usages of many.

The sophistication used in Flame, clearly indicates the ideologies of its creators to enhance and evolve, their modes of attacks. This calls for immediate and continuous protection against ever evolving attacks. With the detection of Flame and its effects, it’s clear and that Cyber warfare has become stealthier and effective. Although many may presume it to be less destructive but the fact is that it reaches beyond one can think it will. It’s high time to wake up and realise the times and resort to quicker moves of security.

Talking about solutions, Cyberoam’s Gateway Anti-Virus & Anti-Spyware module protects all its users from Flame malware. Cyberoam detects all Modules and Drivers of the Flame Malware. As Flame has a close similarity to the Stuxnet malware, Cyberoam has covered the Flame malware detection already by our generic detection methods. Cyberoam scans HTTP, HTTPS, FTP, SMTP, POP3, IMAP, IM, and VPN Tunnels. It detects and removes Virus, Worm and Trojan. Cyberoam protects from Spyware, Malware, and Phishing with its automatic virus signature database updates. To know more on Cyberoam’s Gateway Anti-Virus & Anti-Spyware module visit www.cyberoam.com