Sophisticated Regin spyware ‘built by nation state'

[Nipuna]

SOMEONE'S been busy. Malware has been spying on computers in Russia, the Middle East and Europe since at least 2008, security firm Symantec said this week.

Governments, businesses and individuals have been targeted by the malware, Regin, which the firm says is one of the most sophisticated spying tools it has ever seen. They suspect it is state-sponsored.

Regin attacks a computer in multiple stages, each heavily encrypted, making it difficult to detect an attack. Symantec says it likely took years to develop, and is similar to Stuxnet, a worm that targeted Iranian nuclear facilities in 2010 and, according to NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden, was developed by the US and Israel.

Symantec says it tracked versions of Regin from 2008 until 2011, when it disappeared, before re-emerging in 2013. The software can capture screenshots, recover deleted files and steal passwords.

This article appeared in print under the headline "Super spyware"