Another former intelligence operative confirmed that the NSA had developed the prized technique of concealing spyware in hard drives, but said he did not know which spy efforts relied on it.Īs the report notes, it appears that this is a kind of 'sleeper' software, that is buried inside tons of hard drives, but only 'turned on' when necessary.

agency responsible for gathering electronic intelligence.Ī former NSA employee told Reuters that Kaspersky's analysis was correct, and that people still in the spy agency valued these espionage programs as highly as Stuxnet. The firm declined to publicly name the country behind the spying campaign, but said it was closely linked to Stuxnet, the NSA-led cyberweapon that was used to attack Iran's uranium enrichment facility.

The targets included government and military institutions, telecommunication companies, banks, energy companies, nuclear researchers, media, and Islamic activists, Kaspersky said. Kaspersky said it found personal computers in 30 countries infected with one or more of the spying programs, with the most infections seen in Iran, followed by Russia, Pakistan, Afghanistan, China, Mali, Syria, Yemen and Algeria. Earlier this week, Kaspersky Lab revealed that the NSA (likely) has figured out ways to hide its own spyware deep in pretty much any hard drive made by the most popular hard drive manufacturers: Western Digital, Seagate and Toshiba.

Thought that the revelations of NSA/GCHQ spying were dying out? Having some 'surveillance fatigue' from all the stories that have been coming out? Have no fear - or, rather, be very very very fearful - because two big new revelations this week show just how far the NSA will go to make sure it collects everything.

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