Iran 'finds fix' for world's most complicated espionage virus 'Flame'

Tehran, May 30 (ANI): Iran has claimed that it has developed tools that can defend against the recently discovered computer espionage virus called Flame.

Flame was discovered after the UN's International Telecommunications Union asked for help from security firms to find out what was wiping data from machines across the Middle East.

According to The BBC, Iran's National Computer Emergency Response Team (Maher) said that the detection and clean-up tool was finished in early May and is now ready for distribution to organisations at risk of infection.

Meanwhile, Security companies that have investigated the new virus Flame, also called Skywiper, said that it is one of the most complex threats ever seen.

An in-depth look at Flame by the Laboratory of Cryptography and System Security at Hungary's University of Technology and Economics in Budapest, said it stayed hidden because it was so different to the viruses, worms and trojans that most security programmes were designed to catch.

According to the report, it is not yet clear who created Flame but experts say its complexity suggests that it was the work of a nation state rather than hacktivists or cyber criminals.

Iran suffered by far the biggest number of Flame infections, suggest figures from Kaspersky Labs in a report about the malicious programme.

Kaspersky said 189 infections were reported in Iran, compared to 98 in Israel and 32 in Sudan.

Syria, Lebanon, Saudia Arabia and Egypt were also hit, the report said. (ANI)