USA. would have installed software to permanently spy … – CNET in Spanish

The threat than anything known in complexity and sophistication, according to security firm Kaspersky. The official, Group Equation, seems to be linked to the National Security Agency.

Kaspersky Lab

The Russian security company Kaspersky announced Monday that the Group managed to install Equation called spyware to monitor computers and networks from countries like Iran, Russia, Pakistan and China. According to a report in The New York Times , the Equation Group is a reference to the National Security Agency (NSA, for its acronym in English) and its military counterpart, the Cyber ​​Command.

cybersecurity firm located an ancestor of hazardous Stuxnet and Flame virus that hit the Internet security in previous years, and is linked to Equation Group. The activities as Kaspersky, beyond anything known in complexity and sophistication in the world of cyber security.

The announcement was made during a computer security conference held in Cancun, Mexico.

According to Kaspersky, the Group uses Equation complex tools and expensive to develop, recover data and hide their activity. Also, The Equation Group uses techniques that, according to the company, are classic espionage to infect victims with malware.

According to the New York Times , Equation Group has been used by the US government to infect computers in countries like Iran, Russia, China, Afghanistan, among others, which investigates for different reasons. Stuxnet, for example, was linked to a sophisticated cyber attack against Iran’s nuclear program.

Kaspersky started using multiple implants (better known as Trojans), but admits that there must be other variations Trojans are still used to infect computers. The Russian security company said the Equation Group has been active since 2001, though perhaps its existence dates back to 1996.

Equation Group has different strengths that have allowed him to be one of the most stunning cyber threats constants. One of these is its ability to survive formatting the hard drive where you installed and bear the complete reinstallation of the operating system.

Infection tools used by Equation Group are not limited to digital. According to Kaspersky, the people behind Equation Group flooded sites infected with malware, but also to change portable devices. Kaspersky highlights what happened at a scientific conference in Houston, Texas: some participants receive conference materials on a CD, but in reality the contents of the CD was previously installed malware by Equation Group, which ended infecting computers of participants. Kaspersky indicates that it is unknown how they managed to change the contents of the CD

However, despite its danger, Kaspersky indicates that Equation Group does not target its attacks on civilians.; attacks go to different industries and sectors such as government, military, telecommunications, nanotechnology, energy and media. Unfortunately, Kaspersky says there is no way to eliminate the malware of Equation Group; the only solution is destuir the infected drive.

According to Kaspersky, the Equation Group is related to old threats Stuxnet and Flame. Stuxnet struck Windows computers and was discovered in 2010; affected 60 percent of computers in Iran, mainly in industrial complexes. Flame is also a malware and was discovered in 2012. It was listed as one of the ever found, able to record audio, take screenshots and use the keyboard more dangerous viruses and complex, as well as to monitor traffic on a network.