[BOfH]

While sophisticated, it may be a lot less dramatic than it really is, a.k.a business as usual.


http://www.networkworld.com/news/201...er-265893.html

Some looking at the information that Kaspersky has provided so far about "Red October" are wondering if it's mainly a Russian vs. Russian botnet operation that could involve some of Russia's moneyed industrialists in the oil and gas business, for instance, spying on the government, or vice versa. Or perhaps spying on each other by attaining information from a third-party operating a botnet compromising both computers and handheld mobile devices.

"It's a very interesting case study," says Sean Sullivan, security adviser at F-Secure, the anti-malware firm headquartered in Finland. The entire operation could well involve Russia's "competing oligarchs," a term often used to describe the business magnates and billionaires who rose to power in industries such as oil and gas after the official end of the Soviet Union. Their battles among themselves and the Russian government have spilled with vehemence into the public eye from time to time. Still, in the drama of Kaspersky's "Red October," the espionage might still have something to do with China, Sullivan says.

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