This evil virus steals everything on your computer — without being installed

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | It’s called Slingshot and it was recently discovered by Kaspersky Labs.

Incredibly, the malware is so powerful and sophisticated that it hid in routers for six years before finally being spotted.

According to Ars Technica, the sophistication of Slingshot rivals similarly advanced malware apps, including Regin, a backdoor that infected Belgian telco Belgacom and other targets for years, and Project Sauron, a separate malware that also remained hidden for years.

The infected computers were located primarily in Kenya and Yemen, but also in Afghanistan, Libya, Congo, Jordan, Turkey, Iraq, Sudan, Somalia, and Tanzania.

Targets included individuals as well as government organisations and institutions. Kaspersky did not identify the malware’s creators.