[Automobill]

DUBAI, Aug. 9 (Xinhua) -- Kaspersky Lab, a Russian producer of anti-virus software, said Thursday it
has discovered "Gauss," a new computer virus apparently designed to monitor online bank transactions in the
Middle East.

"Gauss is a complex, nation-state sponsored cyber-espionage toolkit designed to steal sensitive data, with a
specific focus on browser passwords, online banking account credentials, cookies, and specific configurations
of infected machines," Kaspersky said in an e-mailed statement.

The company added that "The online banking Trojan functionality found in Gauss is a unique characteristic that
was not found in any previously known cyber-weapons."

The Russian software specialist said further that Gauss came into light during the course of the ongoing effort
initiated by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), following the discovery of Flame, which was
described as the most sophisticated malware ever found.



"Analysis of Gauss shows it was designed to steal data from several Lebanese banks including the Bank of
Beirut, EBLF, BlomBank, ByblosBank, FransaBank and Credit Libanais," the statement said, adding that "it
targets the users of Citibank and PayPal."

Analysts expressed suspicion that the viruses in the region are part of an all-out cyberwar launched by the
United States and Israel to disturb Iran's nuclear energy program.

"Another key feature of Gauss is the ability to infect USB thumb drives, using the same LNK vulnerability that
was previously used in Stuxnet and Flame," Kaspersky explained.

However, the firm said that at the present time, the Gauss Trojan is successfully detected, blocked and
remediated by Kaspersky Lab's products, classified as Trojan-Spy.Win32.Gauss.