New cyber weapon was discovered in Iran by a Russian computer firm. The malware, dubbed as the most powerful data-stealing virus, has an unprecedented destructive potential and could be used as a “cyber weapon” by the United States and Israel.

[photo credit: Reuters]

The popular Kaspersky anti-virus firm, one of the world’s biggest producers of anti-virus software, discovered the said “cyber weapon” known as “Flame” and it has been circulating in the middle east for 5 years now.

But among Middle Eastern countries, Iran appears to have been the main target of the attack.

It’s interesting to note that in 2010, the Stuxnet virus which targeted the Iranian nuclear program, was discovered.

But Flame is deemed more powerful than Stuxnet and it can steal information from infected machines including documents, screenshots and even audio recordings. It then sends the data to servers all over the world.

According to press statement released by Kaspersky on Monday, Flame is “actively being used as a cyber weapon attacking entities in several countries. It is one of the most advanced and complete attack-toolkits ever discovered.”

Alexander Gostev, the chief security expert at Kaspersky, said that Iran was the country worst affected by Flame followed by the Palestinian Territories, Sudan, Syria and Lebanon. They are suspecting the malware might have originated from USA and Israel since both countries are accusing Iran of building an atomic weapon.

On the other hand, Iran’s computer emergency response team claimed they already came up with an anti-virus program against Flame.