America's National Security Agency (NSA) managed to infect hard drive firmware with spyware to spread Stuxnet. THE energy that of the service was done at least 14 years ago, according to an analysis by Kaspersky Labs.
The campaign has probably infected tens of thousands of computers with telecommunications providers, governments, armies, utilities, and media companies, among others, in more than 30 countries.
Η NSA φέρεται να έχει παραβιάσει το firmware σκληρών δίσκων από πάρα πολλά κορυφαία εμπορικά σήματα, όπως της Seagate, Western Digital, η IBM, Toshiba, Samsung και Maxtor, όπως αναφέρουν οι ερευνητές της Kaspersky.
Kaspersky's analysis reports that the NSA discovered a vulnerability to the hard disk firmware infection with a malware known only as nls_933w.dll and is capable of being even after format to re-infect targeting systems.
The researchers said that an NSA group called 'The Equation Group' had access to the source code of the firmware and was able to gain full control to remotely access the infected machines from high-value targets.
"The 'Equation Group' is probably one of the most sophisticated cyber attack groups in the world," says Kaspersky.
"It is an amazing technical achievement and a testament to the team's capabilities."
"For many years they have carried out many attacks, such as with Stuxnet and Flame, and always from a position of superiority, as they had access to exploits earlier than others."
The campaign was called "Death Star" and you can read more details from PDF.
Western Digital, however, said it did not share its firmware source code with the service. Of course, it is still not known whether the other hard disk manufacturers had done so
But what could the trojan do:
EQUATIONDRUG - A very complex attack platform used by the team. It supports a plugin system, which can be dynamically loaded and unloaded by attackers.
DOUBLEFANTASY - A validator Trojan, which was intended to confirm its purpose and intended use. If the goal is confirmed, it is upgraded to a more advanced platform such as EQUATIONDRUG or GRAYFISH.
EQUESTRE - same as EQUATIONDRUG.
TRIPLEFANTASY – Full-featured backdoor sometimes used in conjunction with GRAYFISH. It looks like one upgrade of DOUBLEFANTASY, and is probably a more recent validator.
GRAYFISH – EQUATION Group's most advanced attack platform. It resides in the registry, and is supported by a bootkit to run with the cc systemmovementof the operative.
FANNY - A worm created in 2008 and used to gather information on targets in the Middle East and Asia. It is first upgraded to DoubleFantasy, and then to EQUATIONDRUG.
EQUATIONLASER - One of the first implants of the EQUATION team. Used from 2001 to 2004. Compatible with Windows 95/98.
