The Washington Post has accused the US and Israel of jointly creating the most sophisticated virus in the world, Flame. The virus was discovered by United Nations workers in the Middle East who noticed data loss on some of their PCs. The virus was linked to China and Russia in its early days, but the Washington Post said it received information from ‘Western officials with knowledge of the effort’ that the virus was created by the CIA and Israel.

The newspaper wrote:

The U.S.-Israeli collaboration was intended to slow Iran’s nuclear program, reduce the pressure for a conventional military attack and extend the timetable for diplomacy and sanctions.

On the sophistication of the virus, Orla Cox, a security analyst at the security firm Symantec, said:

The way it has been developed is unlike anything we’ve seen before. It’s huge. It’s like using an atomic weapon to crack a nut.

Neither the US nor Israel have confirmed involvement, but this evidence certainly seems to suggest it. Kaspersky Labs confirmed that the Flame computer virus was created by the same people who create the Stuxnet virus, which infiltrated an Iranian uranium-enrichment plant a couple of years ago. The company also said that it was likely that Flame was created before Stuxnet.