There’s no way of knowing if the NSA’s spyware is on your hard drive

Malware intentionally created by the U.S. National Security Agency to infect personal computer hard disk drives (HDDs) and solid-state drives (SSDs) cannot be detected by antivirus programs.

The spyware, which infects a drive’s firmware, can also produce a treasure trove of data for any government agency controlling the drives, according to Russian security software maker Kaspersky Lab.

Kaspersky released a report this week saying that it had discovered the spyware on hard drives in personal computers from 30 countries, including the U.S. The company said the malware,  known as Fanny, likely predated other NSA spyware, such as Stuxnet, and has likely been in use for nearly two decades.

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