A United Nations agency that aids member nations in securing their national infrastructures is set to warn member nations about the risk posed by the 'Flame' virus.Flame is a computer virus that Tehran says is infecting its computers and which independent experts say "most dangerous cyberwarfare tool ever created."
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"This is the most serious (cyber) warning we have ever put out," Marco Obiso, cyber security coordinator for the UN's Geneva-based International Telecommunications Union, said.
"They should be on alert," he added.
Analysts say evidence suggests Flame may have been built on behalf of the same nation - or nations - that commissioned the Stuxnet worm that attacked Iran's nuclear program in 2010,.
"I think it is a much more serious threat than Stuxnet," Obiso said.
He said the ITU will set up a program to collect data - including virus samples - to track Flame's spread around the globe and observe any changes in its composition.
At present, Flame is known to have struck at least 600 specific computer systems in Iran, Syria, Lebanon, Egypt, Sudan, Saudi Arabia and the Palestinian Authority. Flame does with one virus what hackers have previously had to deploy many separate viruses to do. That means it can deliver a more comprehensive picture than ever before of what a computer is being used for.