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takyon [soylentnews.org] writes:

US officials: Kaspersky "Slingshot" report burned anti-terror operation [arstechnica.com]

A malware campaign discovered by researchers for Kaspersky Lab this month [arstechnica.com] was in fact a US military operation, according to a report by CyberScoop [cyberscoop.com]'s Chris Bing and Patrick Howell O'Neill. Unnamed US intelligence officials told CyberScoop that Kaspersky's report had exposed a long-running Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) operation targeting the Islamic State and Al Qaeda.

The malware used in the campaign, according to the officials, was used to target computers in Internet cafés where it was believed individuals associated with the Islamic State and Al Qaeda would communicate with their organizations' leadership. Kaspersky's report showed Slingshot had targeted computers in countries where ISIS, Al Qaeda, and other radical Islamic terrorist groups have a presence or recruit: Afghanistan, Yemen, Iraq, Jordan, Turkey, Libya, Sudan, Somalia, Kenya, Tanzania, and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The publication of the report, the officials contended, likely caused JSOC to abandon the operation and may have put the lives of soldiers fighting ISIS and Al Qaeda in danger. One former intelligence official told CyberScoop that it was standard operating procedure "to kill it all with fire once you get caught... It happens sometimes and we're accustomed to dealing with it. But it still sucks. I can tell you this didn't help anyone."

This is good malware. You can't expose the good malware!

Related: Kaspersky Claims to have Found NSA's Advanced Malware Trojan [soylentnews.org]
Ties Alleged Between Kaspersky Lab and Russian Intelligence Agencies [soylentnews.org]
Kaspersky Willing to Hand Source Code Over to U.S. Government [soylentnews.org]
Kaspersky Lab has been Working With Russian Intelligence [soylentnews.org]
FBI Reportedly Advising Companies to Ditch Kaspersky Apps [soylentnews.org]
Federal Government, Concerned About Cyberespionage, Bans Use of Kaspersky Labs Products [soylentnews.org]
Kaspersky Lab and Lax Contractor Blamed for Russian Acquisition of NSA Tools [soylentnews.org]

Original Submission