The initial reports are that the trojan is aimed at financial institutions in the Middle East, but the malware could turn up here as well. In a news release Kaspersky calls Gauss a “nation-state sponsored cyber-espionage toolkit ” along the lines of the Duqu, Stuxnet and Flame trojans.
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Cyber-espionage is a bit safer than sending spies in to kill people and foment war, but it does run the danger of an escalating tit-for-tat digital war. So it comes as no suprise the Washington Post reports the U.S. military’s cyber-experts are quietly angling to take a more aggressive role in defending critical American networks. The Pentagon is limited now to protecting military networks , but it would like some flexibility. Just in case.