American computer security experts tell NBC News that the “flame” computer virus that infiltrated Iranian computers bears the hallmarks of U.S. cyber espionage.
The flame virus, which is intended to gather intelligence — not destroy equipment or data, as was the case with the notorious Stuxnet virus — is too sophisticated to be the work of another country, said one U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity. “It was U.S.,” said the official, who acknowledged having no first-hand knowledge of how the virus operates or was introduced into the Iranian computers.
