Flame Virus: Did Kaspersky CEO Indirectly Predict Outbreak?

When the Flame Virus apparently attacked computers in Iran and other Middle East countries, The VAR Guy immediately flashed back to a recent keynote from Kaspersky Lab CEO Eugene Kaspersky. Indeed, Kaspersky essentially predicted that World War III would be fought using cyber weapons rather than traditional military weapons. The Flame Virus sounds a lot like the cyber weapons Kaspersky was describing.

As Kaspersky’s Vitaly Kamlyuk told RT, the virus can:

“record audio if a microphone is attached to the infected system, it can do screen captures and transmit visual data. It can steal information from the input boxes when they are hidden behind asterisks, password fields; it can get information from there. Also it can scan for locally visible Bluetooth devices if there is a Bluetooth adapter attached to the local system.”

Rewind to early May 2012. Kaspersky, speaking at a partner summit in the Bahamas, warned attendees that today’s infrastructure — power plants, nuclear facilities, telecommunications networks — would require mass upgrades to safeguard against cyber warfare and international espionage. Eager to fill that void, Kaspersky said his company was developing a cyber secure operating system — though he didn’t offer specific details about the new operating system.

In the meantime, Kaspersky (the company) believes a “state” (translation: an organized government) developed the Flame Virus.

Hmmm…