Israel rejects links to world's most complex espionage malware 'Flame'

Tel Aviv -  Israel has rejected claims that it might be behind the recently discovered sophisticated cyber espionage virus called Flame.

Several media reports linked comments made by the country's Vice Prime Minister Moshe Yaalon with the malware, also called Skywiper, which has infected over 600 targets.

Yaalon, who is also Israel's Minister of Strategic Affairs, recently discussed the attacks on Israel's military radio station, Army Radio.

"There are quite a few governments in the West that have rich high-tech [capabilities] that view Iran, and particularly the Iranian nuclear threat, as a meaningful threat - and can possibly be involved with this field," he had said.

"I would imagine that everyone who sees the Iranian nuclear threat as a significant one, and that is not only Israel, it is the entire Western world, headed by the United States of America,

would likely take every single measure available, including these, to harm the Iranian nuclear project," he added.

According to The BBC, a spokesman for the Israeli government claimed that Yaalon had been misrepresented.

The spokesman for Yaalon said that 'there was no part of the interview where the minister has said anything to imply that Israel was responsible for the virus.'

Meanwhile, Russian security firm Kaspersky Labs, which was among the first to reveal details of Flame, said that it could take months, or even years, to determine where it had originated.

However, its researchers have noted that whoever was behind the malware appeared to be retreating slowly.