Tuesday, January 24, 2017

Computer Virus Hits Saudi Oil

By Micah Halpern
I've Been Thinking:

Shamoon 2 has hit Saudi Arabia and its oil industry.

Shamoon 2 is a variant of the original Shamoon virus of 2012. The original virus shut down 35,000 Saudi computers within the Saudi oil industry, including Aramco, the national oil company of Saudi Arabia.

The virus literally brought Saudi oil production to a halt.
Speculation was that the virus was created and run out of Iran. That speculation makes sense.

And now again, from November 2016 thru December and into January of this year, an almost identical virus has been found in Saudi oil computers.

The virus strikes the host computer and quickly spreads throughout the entire network. Shamoon then relays all information and all documents back to the attacker and then destroys them on the host's own network.

Finally the virus overwrites the master boot record of the infected computer. Once the overwrite is completed, the infected computer cannot be turned on. The entire system is defunct and the files are no longer there.

This is a very powerful and very destructive virus. Anti-virus companies are all working overtime to isolate, counter and protect against this virus.

Micah@MicahHalpern.com

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