The Latest in IT Security

By Jim Finkle BOSTON (Reuters) – A mysterious computer virus believed to be from Russia infected hundreds of thousands of PCs around the globe after attacking the U.S. military’s Central Command in an unprecedented breach uncovered in 2008, according to the details of new research released on Wednesday. Costin Raiu, director of research at Moscow-based Kaspersky Lab, told Reuters on Wednesday that at least 400,000 computers across Russia and Europe were infected with the virus, dubbed Agent.BTZ, based on the number of infections detected by his firm’s anti-virus software. Not much data has been previously released on the virus, so the research from Kaspersky Lab may shed new light on how sophisticated cyber espionage operations are conducted. Still, Raiu said Kaspersky published its analysis on the attacks because it believes they are likely linked to a sophisticated ongoing operation known as Turla, which is targeting hundreds of government computers across Europe and the United States.