Hack into the matrix:
The malware is remarkable both for its sweep — in computer jargon, it has not been merely “phishing†for random consumers’ information, but “whaling†for particular important targets — and for its Big Brother-style capacities.
It can, for example, turn on the camera and audio-recording functions of an infected computer, enabling monitors to see and hear what goes on in a room.
The investigators say they do not know if this facet has been employed.
The New York Times has a story this morning on a huge, Orwellian computer spy network, working out of China and “that, in less than two years, has infiltrated at least 1,295 computers in 103 countries, including many belonging to embassies, foreign ministries and other government offices, as well as the Dalai Lama’s Tibetan exile centers in India, Brussels, London and New York.”
Read the whole Times story here.