Reports Provide Details on ‘Project Sauron’ Malware, Highly Advanced, Remained Hidden for 5 Years

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Reports Provide Details on ‘Project Sauron’ Malware, Highly Advanced, Remained Hidden for 5 Years

By CircleID Reporter
August 09, 2016, 6:36 pm PDT Views: 6,593 Add Comment

“Security experts have discovered a malware platform that’s so advanced in its design and execution that it could probably have been developed only with the active support of a nation-state,” reports Dan Goodin in Ars Technica: “Its ability to operate undetected for five years is a testament to its creators, who clearly studied other state-sponsored hacking groups in an attempt to replicate their advances and avoid their mistakes.”

— ‘ProjectSauron’ is based on a string of code in the malware that includes the name “Sauron” [Throughout the film series The Lord of the Rings, “the Eye” (the Red Eye, the Evil Eye, the Lidless Eye, the Great Eye) is the image most often associated with title character ‘Sauron’.]

— ProjectSauron is a very advanced actor, comparable only to the top-of-the-top in terms of sophistication… Kaspersky Report / Aug 9: “The attackers clearly understand that we as researchers are always looking for patterns. Remove the patterns and the operation will be harder to discover. We are aware of more than 30 organisations attacked but we are sure that this is just a tiny tip of the iceberg.”

By CircleID Reporter — CircleID’s internal staff reporting on news tips and developing stories. Do you have information the professional Internet community should be aware of? Contact us.
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