After the Stuxnet and Flame Computer viruses, yet another virus, the Gauss has been discovered infecting the computers in West Asia. The Kaspersky Labs working on behalf of the International Telecommunications Union said Gauss is the latest cyber-threat targeting users in West Asia.

It stated that Gauss is a complex, cyber-espionage virus which can steal sensitive data, with a specific focus on browser passwords, online banking account credentials, cookies, and specific configurations of infected machines. It was first discovered in June this year based on the knowledge gained by the in-depth analysis and research on the Flame computer virus. However at present it has been contained. The virus is also capable of stealing access credentials for various online banking systems and payment methods. The Kaspersky Labs informed that the analysis of Gauss showed that it had infected around 2500 machines in Lebanon. It is capable of stealing data from the clients of several Lebanese banks while it also targets users of Citibank and PayPal. Gauss can infect USB drives on the same pattern as in case of Stuxnet and Flame computer viruses however the process of infecting USB sticks is more intelligent.