Spyware
Merkel Aide Finds
Spyware Used by US, UK intelligence on USB Drive: Reports
A senior employee at
the German Chancellery, working in close contact with Chancellor Angela Merkel,
is suspected of being the victim of a cyberattack after sophisticated
surveillance software known to be used by US and UK intelligence services was
discovered on a USB stick in her possession, Bild reported Monday.
MOSCOW,
December 29 (Sputnik) –The portable drive,
owned by the head of the Chancellery’s European policy department,
was compromised by advanced Regin malware, reportedly used by the US
National Security Agency (NSA) and the British Government Communications Headquarters
(GCHQ).
According
to Bild, the Merkel associate had begun writing a speech on EU
strategy at work and had copied the draft to a USB stick, which she
then removed from the office to complete the speech at home
on her personal laptop.
After returning
to the office and copying the text back from the USB drive, the Regin
malware was discovered by virus scanning software installed on her
office computer.
Regin is capable
of taking screenshots, as well as gathering, transferring and
deleting data. Following the discovery of the malware, Germany’s Federal
Office for Information Security scanned all of the Chancellery’s 200
high-security laptops. No similar malware was detected.
According to a
November report by the Intercept, a website detailing NSA materials leaked
by US whistleblower Edward Snowden, Regin has previously been used
by the NSA in cyberattacks against the European Union.
The existence
of this kind of cyberattack was first revealed by Snowden
in 2013, though the specific malware used by the US intelligence
agency was not specified. Regin has reportedly also been used by the GCHQ
to infiltrate Belgium’s public telecommunication company Belgacom
in 2013.
No comments:
Post a Comment