Famous anti-virus company, Kaspersky Labs, has unearthed a new malware campaign named Red October. The latter is harvesting classified data from targets like nation states and sensitive corporations throughout the world.

Red October, also referred to as Rocra, is stealing encrypted login information from the high security targets. It is believed to primarily target former USSR republics and countries in Central Asia. However, the security experts pointed out that actually no nation is immune, with known infections around the globe.

Kaspersky Labs explained that the virus, which has been lurking for 5 years already, contains strong technical evidence which reveals that the attackers have Russian-speaking origins. It has also infiltrated smartphones to harvest data. The malware has mainly focused on diplomatic and government agencies of different countries throughout the globe, but also targets other companies, including research institutions, aerospace, military, trade and commerce, nuclear and energy research, oil and gas companies.

Red October first attacked in exploits discovered in Microsoft Excel, and two other ones in Microsoft Word. The malware works by storing data on the infected network and when it is ready, it “calls back” to command servers for customized packages of malware which are signed with victim-specific 20 digit codes.

The security experts claimed that from this, the hackers managed to gather information straight from government institutions, embassies, research companies, military installations, and energy providers through the increasing catalogue of logins, and other ways to get past security.

In order to keep track of, and control the network of infected PCs, the hackers have created over 60 domain names and a number of server hosting locations in various countries that were able to hide the original location of the “mothership” control server.

Along with computers, the malware has also been designed to target and steal information from mobile devices, including iPhones, Nokia, and Windows based mobiles. Kaspersky pointed out that removable disk drives were also labeled as unsafe.

According to the data the security experts have collected so far, the original exploits were developed by Chinese hackers, while the Red October modules themselves have been written by Russian speaking developers.