A USB Device Being Plugged Into A Laptop Computer
A photo illustration shows a USB device being plugged into a laptop computer in Berlin July 31, 2014. USB devices such as mice, keyboards and thumb-drives can be used to hack into personal computers in a potential new class of attacks that evade all known security protections, German crypto specialist and chief scientist with Berlin's SR Labs Karsten Nohl revealed on July 31. Reuters/Thomas Peter

Amid reports of Australia deploying cyber weapons in the Middle East in a counter-terrorism operation, a cyber-espionage program was discovered being used by several countries in sophisticated hacking operations. Security experts revealed the existence of the spying software after former NSA contractor Edward Snowden allegedly leaked the source code.

According to Reuters, researchers at security software company Kasperskly Lab said most of the code were similar to what they previously discovered in computers infected by a major host of spying tools. The spying platform, known as Regin, was believed to be a platform used in the intelligence operations of the Five Eyes network which is composed of the U.S., UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.

Lead Kaspersky researcher Costin Raiu said the keylogging program called Qwerty would only work with Regin. Security experts had found that several Western countries have been using Regin in spy operations for a decade. The malicious software has been discovered in more than 24 Web sites in 14 countries including Russia, India, Germany and Brazil. Among the targeted sites were government agencies, banks and multilateral bodies.

In light of the wide-scale cyberattacks involving North Korea and Sony, Australia has reportedly been building a computer network attack capability in the Australian Signals Directorate. The Australian Financial Review reported that the ASD openly invites hackers who are passionate in breaking and securing computer systems to protect Australia’s interests. ASD has allegedly launched cyberattacks on terrorists in the Middle East. Australia has also developed its offensive cyber skills to retaliate against a non-democratic state that have been stealing public and private information.

Meanwhile, Arbor Network recently released its 10th Annual Worldwide Infrastructure Security Report and found an increase in cyberattacks in 2014. Nick Race, country manager for Arbor in Australia, said political motivation has become the top reason for hacking operations that knock services offline, The Age reported.

Race said the biggest attack in Australia happened in 2014 with 77 Gbps in August but he refused to reveal the exact target. He added that Australian companies encounter at least one attack of over 50 Gpbs in every quarter of last year. Arbor saw an increase in cyberattacks against cloud services and data centres.

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