Gauss virus: Stuxnet-like cyberweapon hits Middle East banks

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  Reuters in Boston
  The Guardian, August 9, 2012

  Virus comes from the same 'factory' as Stuxnet and can wait to unleash attack till it reaches the right target, Kaspersky reports

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  Gauss virus has all the hallmarks of a state-sponsored cyber weapon, built to spy on financial dealings of certain groups and key figures in the Middle East, according to Kaspersky Lab. Photograph: imagebroker / Alamy/Alamy
   

  A new cyber surveillance virus has been found in the Middle East that can spy on banking transactions and steal login and passwords, according Kaspersky Lab, a leading computer security firm.

  Dubbed Gauss, the virus may also be capable of attacking critical infrastructure and was very likely built in the same laboratories as Stuxnet, the computer worm widely believed to have been used by the US and Israel to attack Iran's nuclear programme, Kaspersky Lab said on Thursday.

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