![]() ![]() We are going to emphasise this,” he said. “We are going to, of course, inform member states that there is an unknown payload,” said Marco Obiso, a cyber security coordinator for the UN’s Geneva-based International Telecommunications Union. Reuters reported than a United Nations agency that advises countries on protecting critical infrastructure plans to send an alert on the mysterious code. It can also tamper with the command and control server and download additional modules. It is capable of infecting USB drives with a spy module in order to steal information from other computers. Information on processes and folders may be compromised, and Kaspersky said the virus can mine for data in local, network and removable drives. When let loose, it can gather information about the computer’s network connections. Gauss can intercept user sessions and steal passwords, cookies and browser history. “At present we have no information if Gauss is creating any problem with regard to financial transactions within the UAE,” a spokesman for one of the banks said. Two international banks operating in the UAE said they are aware of the new virus and are prepared to combat any possible threat. ‘‘There’s no need to panic in the UAE and regular users do not face any direct risk,’’ said Tanase. Four computers have been attacked in Egypt, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Syria. Only 11 computers have been found with the malware in the UAE, according to Kaspersky. ![]() Flame targeted Iran, while Gauss has infected 1,660 computers in Lebanon, followed by 463 in Israel and 261 in Palestine. It has been active in the Middle East for the past 10 months. Gauss is believed to have been developed last year or in early 2012 and has similarities to the Flame project. ‘‘It is pretty dangerous and banking credentials can be compromised funds can be stolen and financial transaction can be monitored by the Trojan,’’ according to Stefan Tanase, senior security researcher with Kaspersky Labs.Ī lot of resources have been put into this operation, said Tanase, who specialises in Web security, malware 2.0, and threats which target Internet banking systems, including phishing. This is industrial scale cyber-espionage and it’s a targeted attack from the same source as Stuxnet and Flame. ![]() Computers in Lebanon, Israel and Palestine have been the worst affected, but there is no need to panic in the UAE, a senior researcher at Kaspersky Labs, which detected the virus, told Khaleej Times on Thursday. ![]()
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