Researchers Find NSA Malware on Russian, Iranian Servers

Russian cybersecurity firm Kaspersky Labs announced Friday that it discovered malware known as DarkPulsar, which was allegedly developed by the National Security Agency, on computers in Iran, Russia, and Egypt, according to a report from ZDNet. “We found around 50 victims, but believe that the figure was much higher,” researchers said. The malware’s targets reportedly included nuclear energy, telecommunications, IT, aerospace, and research and development. ZDNet notes that while the malware likely originated with the NSA, it’s unclear whether the agency had anything to do with this attack, because the malware was one of the many “hacking tools” leaked in 2017 by a group known as the Shadow Brokers. As The Daily Beast previously reported, Kaspersky itself has been previously linked to Russian intelligence agencies—which led to the arrest of an NSA coder who brought home classified work that was copied by Kaspersky, his antivirus provider.