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| Flame: massive malware infiltrating Iranian computers |
| By Thom Holwerda on 2012-05-28 23:32:03 |
| "A massive, highly sophisticated piece of malware has been newly found infecting systems in Iran and elsewhere and is believed to be part of a well-coordinated, ongoing, state-run cyberespionage operation. The malware, discovered by Russia-based anti-virus firm Kaspersky Lab, is an espionage toolkit that has been infecting targeted systems in Iran, Lebanon, Syria, Sudan, the Israeli Occupied Territories and other countries in the Middle East and North Africa for at least two years. Dubbed 'Flame' by Kaspersky, the malicious code dwarfs Stuxnet in size." Since I'm not particularly well-versed in the subject, maybe someone can answer this question for me: if country A creates a malware infection like this to spy on and/or harm computers in country B, can it be construed as an act of war under existing international law? |
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| speaking of flames ... |
| By seanpk on 2012-05-29 01:26:57 |
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I'm pretty sure, whatever laws may be "on the books", the precident i such that if the agressing country is the US, or one of its client states, it is not an act of war. Interestingly, it is no longer an act of war for the governments of the countries being attacted this time to respond in kind. That would be an act of terrorism. (sorry for using the 'T' word, they'll probably be confiscating your domain soon.) |
 - Score: 8 |
| RE: speaking of flames ... |
| By Hypnos on 2012-05-29 02:09:43 |
| Dude, America is exceptional -- didn't you get the memo? |
| - Score: 8 |
| Israel |
| By gan17 on 2012-05-29 02:46:57 |
|
Your article mentions Israeli Occupied Territories specifically. That region plus all (or most) of the other affected countries seem to be anti-Israel, or at least have factions (ie Hamas) that are. So it's probably a no-brainer that the malware was created and deployed by the Israelis, unless of course the article (and Kapersky) wants to misdirect everyone. Not quite sure whether it's considered an act of cyber-warfare or cyber-terrorism. Depends on which side of the fence you sit. Some would call it a form of intelligence-gathering or whatever. Better than hearing news of civilian casualties, that's for sure.... though this might eventually lead to that anyway. Anyhooz, Mossad/CIA forces are gonna come and kill me now, so it's been good knowing y'all. |
| - Score: 3 |
| International Law? |
| By JeeperMate on 2012-05-29 02:47:52 |
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There's no such thing as international law. Any and every kind of 'law' that spans national borders are nothing more than conventions and agreements (pacts, treaties, etc.) -- note that the former doesn't involve written documents whereas the latter does, even though they're treated equally. That's it. There's nothing that legally binds anyone. Contrast that to national laws; I never signed any legal documents pertaining to public laws, but I'm legally bound to whatever law that applies in my country. At the end of the day, international 'law' is dictated by whoever has the biggest stick and most delicious carrots to offer. One must be very naive to believe the opposite is true. |
| - Score: 3 |
| Comment by Luminair |
| By Luminair on 2012-05-29 04:50:13 |
|
espionage happens 24/7 something is only an act of war of the politicians deem it politically beneficial to call it so |
| - Score: 6 |
| RE: Comment by Luminair |
| By cyrilleberger on 2012-05-29 05:25:22 |
|
> something is only an act of war of the politicians deem it politically beneficial to call it so Exactly, not counting that if the country controlling the botnet is Israel, then most (all?) of the countries listed are actually already in a state of war with Israel. But yes, act of war is the name you give to a pretext to retaliate against a country you wanted to attack anyway. |
| - Score: 3 |
| RE: Israel |
| By snfgd on 2012-05-29 06:15:27 |
|
> Your article mentions Israeli Occupied Territories specifically. That region plus all (or most) of the other affected countries seem to be anti-Israel, or at least have factions (ie Hamas) that are. So it's probably a no-brainer that the malware was created and deployed by the Israelis... Well jeez, that's all the evidence I need. It must have been Israel. :-P If the worm's distribution is intentional (which it may not be) it seems to be targeting places where Islamism is most influential. Plenty of nations/regimes/organisatio n are opposed to Islamism, and it could be any one of them. The worm doesn't look very professional from what I can tell, so personally I would be pointing fingers at one of the Arab dictatorships before Israel. But really, it's impossible to tell at this point. And Kaspersky isn't known for giving the most reliable reports anyway. Edited 2012-05-29 06:16 UTC |
| - Score: 1 |
| Using the software of the enemy? |
| By Nth_Man on 2012-05-29 06:45:36 |
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> can it be construed as an act of war? From the article: > Also, like Stuxnet, Flame has the ability to spread by infecting USB sticks using the autorun and .lnk vulnerabilities that Stuxnet used. It also uses the same print spooler vulnerability that Stuxnet used to spread to computers on a local network. > The malware has the ability to infect a fully patched Windows 7 computer, which suggests that there may be a zero-day exploit in the code that the researchers have not yet found. What was Iran thinking when they were using the software of the enemy? How many (intentional or unintentional) "bugs" are left that allow remote control for computers in Iran? |
| - Score: 3 |
| RE: Using the software of the enemy? |
| By Loreia on 2012-05-29 09:35:43 |
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> What was Iran thinking when they were using the software of the enemy? How many (intentional or unintentional) "bugs" are left that allow remote control for computers in Iran? This is the key question. Why would they use MS Windows for anything important? I mean, use windows on your gaming rig, and custom Linux distribution on computers that control sensitive industrial/military equipment. |
| - Score: 4 |
| Act Of War |
| By adinas on 2012-05-29 10:12:19 |
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I'm pretty sure Iran's training and arming of terrorists throughout the Middle East (Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Yemen - countries in which actual innocent civilians were murdered by Iranian made munitions) would have a better chance of constituting an act of war than a virus. And I still can't figure out why European's hatred of America and Israel makes them side with those who openly state death to all non Muslims and the objective of turning Europe into a Sharia governed Caliphate. Edited 2012-05-29 10:12 UTC |
| - Score: 0 |
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