The newest strain of the Flame super-virus identified by Kaspersky Labs earlier this year, dubbed Gauss, may be targeting banks in Lebanon, stealing information needed by individuals interacting with their accounts.
Analysts believe the virus may be the work of the United States and/or Israel and be designed to attack assets held by Lebanese terror group Hezbollah.
Arik Hesseldahl, a senior writer for the popular web site All Things Digital, wrote that one can deduce the identities of the trojan virus’s authors by examining its targets. According to Kaspersky, the vast majority of infected computers are in Lebanon, with most others in Israel or Palestinian Authority areas. The trojan, wrote Hesseldahl, is likely aimed at Hezbollah, and seeks to compromise its cyber-defenses.