UPI en Español  |   UPI Asia  |   About UPI  |   My Account
Search:
Go

Hints Israel was behind virus attack

|
 
An error is seen on a computer screen of Bushehr nuclear power plant's map in the Bushehr Port on the Persian Gulf, 1,000 kms south of Tehran, Iran on February 25, 2009. UPI/Mohammad Kheirkhah
An error is seen on a computer screen of Bushehr nuclear power plant's map in the Bushehr Port on the Persian Gulf, 1,000 kms south of Tehran, Iran on February 25, 2009. UPI/Mohammad Kheirkhah 
License photo
Published: May 29, 2012 at 8:30 AM

JERUSALEM, May 29 (UPI) -- Israel may have been involved in the Flame worm that attacked computers in Iran and the West Bank, an Israeli government official hinted Tuesday.

Strategic Affairs Minister Moshe Ya'alon told an interviewer that anyone who sees Iran as a meaningful threat "would take various measures, including this one," Arutz Sheva reported.

"Israel has been blessed with being a state rich in top level high-tech," Ya'alon said. "These tools that we take pride in open up various possibilities for us."

Experts at the Internet security company Kaspersky, who first detected the virus, called Flame a "masterpiece of programming," Haaretz reported.

A spokesman said the program was sophisticated enough to change its characteristics and develop according to orders.

Flame is capable of transferring files, screenshots, audio recordings and keystrokes from infected computers, Kaspersky's representative in Israel said.

Ilan Proimovich said Flame shared certain characteristics with the Stuxnet bug that attacked Iranian centrifuges in 2010.

But Flame, unlike Stuxnet, was designed to collect information, not cause damage, Proimovich said.

Recommended Stories
© 2012 United Press International, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Any reproduction, republication, redistribution and/or modification of any UPI content is expressly prohibited without UPI's prior written consent.

Order reprints
Join the conversation
Most Popular Collections
'Star Trek Into Darkness' screening NBC upfronts Met Ball 2013
'Great Gatsby' premieres in New York Spire raised on top of One WTC 2013: Celebrity break ups and divorces
Additional Technology Stories
1 of 16
Tornadoes Devastate Moore, Oklahoma
View Caption
A damaged movie theater is seen in aftermath of a series of tornadoes in Moore, Oklahoma, May 21, 2013. On May 20 a series of tornadoes swept through severals towns south of Oklahoma City leaving a path of destruction and killing at least 24 people. UPI/J.P. Wilson
fark
You run out of gas along the interstate. Do you A: Call a friend for help? B: Call a tow truck?...
Thanks to generous donations a 91 year old WWII vet will not be evicted from his home of 56 years...
News: 31-year-old woman spends £20,000 on clothes for her 8-year-old son. Fark: She's hot (w/pics)...
Obligatory before and after images of Moore, OK
Sami Bouzaglo, co-owner of Amy's Baking Company, faces deportation after it's learned he has convictions...
If you're going to rob a bank, it's probably best to wear a disguise, not a floor-length, green...