The malware has been nicknamed â€œDuquâ€ because of the frequent use of the.DQ file extension in its programming code.
What is certain is that Duqu is not the creation of pimply-faced teenage computer nerds
The malware has been nicknamed â€œDuquâ€ because of the frequent use of the.DQ file extension in its programming code.
What is certain is that Duqu is not the creation of pimply-faced teenage computer nerds with attitude.
Instead, the spyware is a close relative of the most advanced malware to date, the infamous Stuxnet, which caused the destruction of centrifuges at an Iranian uranium enrichment facility in 2010.
â€œIt is an externally controllable collection of programming code that can be made to do just about anything. This is virtual spying at its most complexâ€, says expert Erkki Mustonen from the Finnish computer security company F-Secure.
Many data security specialists say that Duqu and Stuxnet originate from the same source, for they share a lot of the same programming code.
Stuxnet is widely suspected of having been produced by the United States and Israel, who wanted to delay Iranâ€™s nuclear programme.
The difference between Stuxnet and Duqu is that while Stuxnetâ€™s purpose was to destroy, Duqu simply collects information.