Agent.BTZ is possibly one of the most famous cyber attacks
in American history. In 2008, a flash drive with the bug was inserted into a
computer at a military base in the Middle East. Once in, it spread to other
systems. To combat the bug, the military created a task force called ‘Yankey
Buckshot’. This task force was tasked with containing the bug, which took
nearly 14 months to do.
This bug spreads by generating a AUTORUN.INF file in each
drive it can reach. It then scans the system for useful data, opens a backdoor,
and sends the information through. The main issue with Agent.BTZ is that it
replicates itself and changes constantly. As of 2014, there was still traces of
the bug in some systems, that’s why their efforts were to contain it instead of
destroy it.
The origin of the bug is still unknown, though it is
theorized that it may have originated from Russia or China. This bug was
written in Assembler (x86-32 bit) and is now thought to be created by a single
person. In 2016, the theory changed and it is now believed that it is of
Russian origin since Agent.BTZ has similar code to other Russian attacks.
Though there was a great loss of information due to this
bug, some good did come of it. After the attack the military banned any
removable media devices from being used. They also disabled autorun features on
all their computers.
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