Symantec reports most sophisticated bug ever, in use for six years

Leading web security company Symantec Corp has reported having discovered one of the most sophisticated pieces of malicious software ever seen, BBC reported.

According to Symantec, the software, Regin, was probably created by a government and had been in use for six years against a range of targets around the world.

After it is installed on a computer, it can capture screenshots, steal passwords or recover deleted files, and much worse.

According to experts, computers in Russia, Saudi Arabia and Ireland have been most severely hit.

They added, it had been used to spy on government organisations, businesses and private individuals. According to researchers, the sophistication of the software indicated that it was a cyber-espionage tool developed by a government.

They said, the development is likely to have taken months, if not years, and its creators had gone to great lengths to cover their tracks.

According to Sian John, a security strategist at Symantec, it looked like it came from a western organisation from the level of skill and expertise, the length of time over which it was developed.

Symantec drew parallels with Stuxnet, a computer worm thought to have been developed by the US and Israel to target Iran's nuclear programme.

Symantec issued a statement on Sunday warning the advanced espionage tool "displays a degree of technical competence rarely seen and has been used in spying operations against governments, infrastructure operators, businesses, researchers and private individuals, " The Moscow Times reported.

How Regin infected computer systems was not clear, but it had primarily been deployed against telecommunications firms and internet service providers in Russia and Saudi Arabia, and to a lesser extent in Mexico, Ireland and Iran, the Financial Times reported citing Symantec.

"Almost half of all infections targeted private individuals and small businesses. Attacks on telecoms companies appear to be designed to gain access to calls being routed through their infrastructure," Symantec wrote in its statement.

The warnings come amid reports of increased cyber espionage with the ongoing Ukraine crisis pitting Russia against many western countries.

Concerns of cyber espionage prompted NATO to hold the world's biggest-ever cyber war games last week in Estonia, where hundreds of representatives from 28 countries tested their own ability to respond to new cyber threats, Financial Times said.