Says Eugene Kaspersky: We’re at the mercy of cyberterrorists, armed with weapons more serious than any previous IT security threat
By DAVID SHAMAH, THE TIMES OF ISRAEL
The Flame virus, whose existence was announced several weeks ago by Eugene Kaspersky, is not just any old virus. It’s so sophisticated that it represents a new level of cyber threat, one that could be “the beginning of the end of the [interconnected] world as we know it,” Kaspersky said at a press conference Wednesday. “I have nightmares about it.”
Information security expert Kaspersky, whose team of researchers uncovered Flame’s existence, was a featured speaker at Wednesday’s second annual cyber-security conference sponsored by the Tel Aviv University’s Yuval Ne’eman Workshop for Science, Technology and Security. The conference comes at a time when interest in cybersecurity is at a peak, as a result of speculation about who was behind the Flame attack and the earlier Stuxnet virus attack that is thought to have damaged, or at least delayed, progress by Iran on its nuclear program.
Also speaking at the conference were a host of top security and government officials, including Defense Minister Ehud Barak, Israel Space Agency chairman Yitzhak Ben-Yisrael, former Shin Bet director Yuval Diskin, and others.
While many companies — including Kaspersky’s — advertise sundry solutions for computer viruses and Trojans, they won’t help when it comes to Flame and other still undiscovered viruses of similar or even greater strength that are likely out there, he said. “Right now we have no way to defend against these global attacks.”
The term “cyber-war” is used by many to describe the situation, but that term — which implies that there are two equal, known enemies duking it out — is outmoded, he said. “With today’s attacks, you are clueless about who did it or when they will strike again. It’s not cyber-war, but cyberterrorism.”
Flame, which has stealthily stolen large chunks of data during the months or perhaps years it has been on the loose, is especially scary because of its many sophisticated tools, said Kaspersky. Besides being able to quickly replicate itself on networks and break up data into very small segments, making it almost impossible to trace as it is sent onwards, the virus has many unique features. “It can of course be spread very quickly via a disk-on-key, when one is plugged into a network,” but in addition, it can use bluetooth, wifi, and other communications protocols to propagate, he said.
The Russian-born Kaspersky, 46, whose company is the world’s largest privately held vendor of software security products, described the process by which his team discovered Flame, saying that he got interested in the matter when he heard that Iran had actually accused his company of designing the attack tool. “We thought that maybe our internal system was compromised, so we conducted a thorough investigation.”
It was this investigation, which entailed contacts with IT personnel in Iran itself, that yielded the data on Flame. “Dealing with what we discovered was too big a job for a company,” so Kaspersky took what he knew to the UN’s International Telecommunications Union, which was just as shocked as he was. “We worked out an arrangement where we would gather the data, and they would take care of the other issues.”
Data-gathering is a technical issue, not a political one, Kaspersky said, so he could not speculate on who invented Flame, or why. But anyone and everyone is a suspect. “There are many countries with hackers and experts who are sophisticated enough to pull something like this off.”
The US, Israel, China, and Russia are on that list, but so is Romania, “which has many talented hackers.”
But even countries without a staff of their own could kidnap the scientists they need or hire “hacktivists” to do their dirty work, and there is no shortage of willing and capable people, Kaspersky said.
Still, any country thinking of stockpiling cyber-weapons of these magnitudes should think twice, Kaspersky said, as they have a way of getting out of control.
“It’s like biological weapons; when you set one off in one place, it affects many others.” Cyber-weapons of the magnitude of Flame are just as destructive. “The world is just so interconnected today, and the viruses that attack one power plant puts them all at risk,” Kaspersky said.
Governments must work together to, for example, order a complete rewrite of software for essential systems to protect them against attacks — “there are still many systems out there using MS-DOS,” Kaspersky said — to agreeing to pool information and act jointly when an attack occurs.
The alternative, Kaspersky said, is a world in which cyberterrorists have a free hand – something like the world in the movie Die Hard 4 (also known as Live Free or Die Hard). That movie’s plot involves hackers causing blackouts, blowing up government buildings, and trying to shut down America’s computer system.
“We at Kaspersky Labs have been aware for a long time that such a scenario was possible, but until that movie came out in 2007, we forbade anyone inside the organization from using the term ‘cyber-terrorist.’ Now that the cat is out of the bag, we routinely use that word to describe what is going on.”
He, and other researchers like him, are hard at work coming up with the solutions as the problems arise. What’s at stake, he said, is nothing less “than life as we know it today. Let’s hope and pray we can keep the cyber world safe for our kids and grandkids>”
Kaspersky is definitely hiding something very big…and by the way, Jews is spelled with a capital “J.”
This is off-topic; but since Ted moved to Israel, it seems articles about the US are far fewer. This topic is the most “domestic” one I could find, so here goes. The following article about US politics really encouraged me:
Feinstein is anything but my dream of the ideal politician; but the fact that she is willing to possibly embarrass Obama during his re-election campaign gives me some hope. ALL congressmen, Democrat and Republican alike, are in jeapordy in the coming election, because of an upswelling of popular disgust at the workings of Congress in general. Even with approval ratings below 50%, Obama has been coming out of things relatively unscathed while others in his party have been taking the heat for what, essentially, has been his responsibility. Feinstein may be indicative of a growing sentiment among Democrats to say “Enough! Obama is the problem. Stop blaming us!” I like it.
@ Marlene Langert:
I like the way you talk, Really! 😉
Kaspersky and Shamah are cowards. I am so very sick of jews beaing cowards, what happened to “Never Again”. THese two would probably march to the trains. Me, I would rather die in glory. I love my computer and am on it for several hours most days. However, to win the cyberwar, I would go back to the age before computers. I realize that is not doable, just stating preferences. I know war is sometimes necessary although none of us like it, but cyperwar may be better than sending our young people to the front or even to bomb Iran, I am in favor of the bombing if the cyberwar does not do enough. Comeon fellow jews, stand up and be strong and brave, not cowards afraid for Israel to do anything, afraid for the USA to do anything whether cyber or war as we have known it. Your cowardice makes me sick.
We must get away from Windows. I have been programming in Borland Delphi, and wrote many powerful programs for myself that I have been using for years. In the installation of Delphi, a notice comes up warning not to use for critical systems. Windows violates a critical rule of software – not to mix data with programs. We need to rewrite all critical software in Linux, including the OS. This rewrite can borrow a lot from the Mac.
A star from the east (the sun) will swallow up 7 stars from the north (The alignment with the Pleiades, 7 Sisters, at the recent annular solar eclipse which was the New Moon for Siwan), and a Flame of Black Fire will hang in the Rakia (outer space or cyberspace) for 60 days. The Zohar VaYeira 119a on what will happen in the year 5772 1/2 in preparation for Mashiach.
I keep reading the same flame story over and over and getting nothing new. I think Kaspersky is drumming up business for his company. “Governments must work together to, for example, order a complete rewrite of software for essential systems to protect them against attacks ” Essential systems of terror states SHOULD be brought under attack.
I think it’s a wise move to ensure that essential facilities have their own, dedicated, proprietary operating systems etc. that are not are completely different from those used by commercial computers. Making sure the code’s guts are kept under wraps would go a long way in making sure that a cyber attack of any kind could not cripple the vital systems of a nation.
We know that the U.S. Government has been waging cyber warfare for the last 10 years. At first blush that seems like good news. But hold on- America is the most vulnerable nation the globe subject to retaliation. It is the most highly computerized country on the globe where just about every function of national life, from communications, electrical grid , aviation, energy, the military, the stock exchanges, banking, etc., etc., is operating through cyber space. An effective cyber attack can quite conceivable cripple the nation in hours.
Report: Obama Ordered the Stuxnet Attack on Iran
U.S. President Barack Obama ordered the Stuxnet virus attack on Iran in 2010, a new book claims, to show that he was not soft on Iran.
By Elad Benari, Canada
Obama’s air-sea blockade plan for Iran delays Israeli strike. Hormuz at stake?
DEBKAfile Exclusive Report June 4, 2012, 8:41 PM (GMT+02:00)
US President Barack Obama has again persuaded Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to hold off attacking Iran’s nuclear program in the coming months by promising a new set of severe sanctions against Iran. 🙂
Barak: Israel working to become a cyber leader
Unit 8200 and Israel’s high-tech whiz kids – UPI.com
Israel’s highly secretive Unit 8200 of Military Intelligence is increasingly seen to have played a leading role with the United States in developing a powerful new cyberweapon known as W32.Flame that attacked Iran’s oil industry in April.
‘Flame’ Virus Designed to Steal Iranian-Russian Blueprints
The “Flame” virus is 20 times bigger than Stuxnet and was aimed at stealing blueprints, presumably of nuclear facilities.
Why do I get the feeling this is a veiled warning to Israel?
So the bottom line is that Israel is to do absolutely nothing to save itself since every conceivable measure to stop Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons is claimed by experts to be fraught with global danger.