Flame (Malware)

An extremely sophisticated strain of malware that shares similarities with Stuxnet, although Flame is much more massive in terms of complexity and size, at 30MB or larger when all modules have been installed vs. Stuxnet’s 500KB. Also known as Flamer or Skywiper, Flame was discovered by Kaspersky Lab following a significant increase in infected systems in Iran and other countries in the Middle East and North Africa over the past two years.

After infecting a computer or device, Flame spies on the machine’s activity and steals data from it with keystroke monitoring and packet sniffing functionality as well as backdoor capabilities that enable cyber attackers to update the malware and trigger it or erase it as desired. The Flame malware features multiple levels of encryption as well as more than 20 different modules and plug-ins that can be swapped in and out for added functionality. One unique characteristic of Flame is that some of its code has been written in LUA, a programming language typically used for developing games rather than malware.

Additional distinctive characteristics of Flame include scanning for Bluetooth-enabled devices in order to steal data and infect the devices with the Flamer malware, the ability to turn on a computer’s internal microphone in order to secretly record conversations, and code for taking frequent screenshots of activity such as e-mail and instant messages and secretly uploading the screenshots to “command and control” servers.

As with Stuxnet, security experts believe that Flame is so sophisticated and well-coordinated that it likely was created and conducted with “nation-state support” rather than by typical cyber criminals, although no countries have taken responsibility for the malware to date.

Forrest Stroud
Forrest Stroud
Forrest is a writer for Webopedia. Experienced, entrepreneurial, and well-rounded, he has 15+ years covering technology, business software, website design, programming, and more.
Get the Free Newsletter
Subscribe to Daily Tech Insider for top news, trends & analysis
This email address is invalid.
Get the Free Newsletter
Subscribe to Daily Tech Insider for top news, trends & analysis
This email address is invalid.

Related Articles

Complete List of Cybersecurity Acronyms

Cybersecurity news and best practices are full of acronyms and abbreviations. Without understanding what each one means, it's difficult to comprehend the significance of...

Human Resources Management System

A Human Resources Management System (HRMS) is a software application that supports many functions of a company's Human Resources department, including benefits administration, payroll,...

How To Defend Yourself Against Identity Theft

Almost every worldwide government agency responsible for identity theft issues will tell you the same thing: The first step to fighting identity theft is...

Infographic

An infographic is a visual representation of information or data. It combines the words information and graphic and includes a collection of imagery, charts,...

ScalaHosting

ScalaHosting is a leading managed hosting provider that offers secure, scalable, and affordable...

HRIS

Human resources information system (HRIS) solutions help businesses manage multiple facets of their...

Best Managed Service Providers...

In today's business world, managed services are more critical than ever. They can...