How Israel Caught Russian Hackers Scouring the World for U.S. Secrets
Exploiting the popular Kaspersky antivirus software, Russian hackers searched millions of computers for American intelligence keywords. Israeli intelligence tipped off American officials.
By Nicole Perlroth and Scott Shane
It was a case of spies watching spies watching spies: Israeli intelligence officers looked on in real time as Russian government hackers searched computers around the world for the code names of American intelligence programs.
What gave the Russian hacking, detected more than two years ago, such global reach was its improvised search tool - antivirus software made by a Russian company, Kaspersky Lab, that is used by 400 million people worldwide, including by officials at some two dozen American government agencies.