An Israeli security firm says an ongoing cyber attack aimed mainly at Iran uses Persian language communications and is named after Mahdi, the “Muslim Messiah.”

Seculert, based in Israel, and Russia’s Kaspersky Lab said on Tuesday that they identified more than 800 victims of the operation, Reuters reported. “The targets include critical infrastructure companies, engineering students, financial services firms and government embassies located in five Middle Eastern countries, with the majority of the infections in Iran,” according to the news service.

The cyber attack malware is believed to have begun approximately eight months ago, and whoever is behind it is “for sure somebody who is fluent in Persian,” said Seculert Chief Technology Officer Aviv Raff.

Scarlet and Kaspersky say the Trojan is called “Madhi,” a word that refers to the ultimate redeemer of Islam, because the cyber attackers used a folder with that name.”In Islamic eschatology, the Mahdi is the prophesied redeemer of Islam who will rule for seven, nine or 19 years before the Day of Judgment and will rid the world of wrongdoing, injustice and tyranny. In Islam Ahmadiyya, the terms ‘Messiah’ and ‘Mahdi,’” according to Wikipedia.

“The Mahdi Trojan lets remote attackers steal files from infected PCs and monitor emails and instant messages,” according to Reuters, which quoted the two companies. “It can also record audio, log keystrokes and take screen shots of activity on those computers.”

It is not certain whether individuals or countries are behind the malicious software, while the Flame virus discovered last year was attributed to a country or countries. Israel and/or the United States frequently has been considered the source.

Seculert said that is was able to track variants of malware last December. “The malware communicated with the same domain name, but the server was located in Tehran,” the firm stated on its website.

After Kapersky announced in May it had discovered the Flame virus, Seculert contacted the Russian company.

“We collaborated in the weeks that followed [and] we were able to identify over 800 victims,” the Israeli security firm added. “While we couldn’t find a direct connection between the campaigns, the targeted victims of Mahdi include critical infrastructure companies, financial services and government embassies, which are all located in Iran, Israel and several other Middle Eastern countries.”

Kaspersky explained in a blog post that one of the PowerPoint variants displays “a series of calm, religious themed, serene wilderness, and tropical images, confusing the user into running the payload on their system….

“[W]hile PowerPoint presents users a dialog that the custom animation and activated content may execute a virus, not everyone pays attention to these warnings or takes them seriously, and just clicks through the dialog, running the malicious dropper.”

The world economy has slowly come out of the global financial crisis, but the current sputtering economy is good news compared to what is around the corner, says “Dr. Doom.” economist Nouriel Roubini.

An insistent “doom and gloomer,” Dr. Roubini still determines there will be a global “perfect storm” next year because of slowing economies, European debt and geopolitical risks, he said in an interview with Reuters.

The New York University professor accurately predicted the global economic crisis in 2008.

He now says that tax increases and spending cuts in the United States will help bring about the second recession in four years.

His recipe for disaster includes a hard landing for China’s economy, and for good measure he tosses in his expectation of a slowdown in emerging economies and – last but not least – war with Iran.

“Next year is the time when the can becomes too big to kick it down (the road)…then we have a global perfect storm,” Roubini said.

Roubini is a native of Turkey and the son of Iranian Jews. He briefly lived in Israel before moving to Italy and later to the United States, where he became a senior advisor in the U.S. Treasury Department.

In 2005, he wrote in Fortune magazine that housing prices were spiraling out of control due to speculation and they eventually would sink the economy, which is exactly what happened in the autumn of 2008.

Roubini also forecast that economists’ expectations of a quick and strong economic rebound in the United States were “too optimistic,” an observation that has proven to be correct.

Attorney-General Yehuda Weinstein should press incitement charges against MK Michael Ben-Ari (National Union) for tearing a New Testament and throwing it in the trash, the Knesset’s sole Christian MK, Hanna Sweid (Hadash), said Wednesday.

“This is hooliganism, bullying and an apocalyptic act of hatred that was baseless and unnecessary,” Sweid told The Jerusalem Post after Ben-Ari destroyed the book, which was mailed to all 120 MKs by a messianic Jewish organization. “This reflects the culture of a man who is dangerous to nations and religions of the world.”

The MK, a member of the Arab-Jewish socialist faction Hadash, complained to the Knesset Ethics Committee, but said he has no doubt that they will not punish Ben-Ari effectively or remove his parliamentary immunity. He was also skeptical that the Attorney-General’s office would heed his call, though he called Ben-Ari’s actions “incitement,” and expressed fears that they would encourage the public “to raise a hand against Christians.”

“I hope that [Ben-Ari] represents a minority, and such incitement won’t continue,” Sweid sighed.

According to Sweid, “Evangelicals support Ben-Ari’s path of occupation and settlements. I hope they will now see who they are dealing with.”

Sweid said he was disappointed that there was not more of an outcry, but at the same time is not accusing those who did not speak out against Ben-Ari of supporting such acts. However, the Hadash MK stated, if the public does not stand up against Ben-Ari, he will be encouraged.

At the same time, Sweid thanked Knesset Speaker Reuven Rivlin for his “noble and brave” condemnation of Ben-Ari in the plenum on Wednesday.

“I condemn any disrespect of holy texts of any religion, including ripping the New Testament by an MK yesterday,” Rivlin said. “Every holy book is important to its believers.”

According to the Knesset Speaker, if a parliamentarian from another country would burn a Torah and call it a provocation, the world would condemn him or her.

“Democracy is the freedom of speech, but it is not anarchy, and freedom of faith and worship is one of the founding values of this country,” Rivlin added.

On Tuesday, Ben-Ari tore up a copy of the “Book of Testaments,” combining the Tanach and New Testament in one volume, sent to all 120 MKs by The Bible Society in Israel, a messianic Judaism institution for research, publication and dissemination of holy books.

Rivlin rejected Ben-Ari’s request to respond in the plenum on Wednesday, telling him to “stop giving the Knesset a bad name.”

“Millions of Jews were murdered in the name of the New Testament, this revolting book brought massacres of Jews in the [Spanish] Inquisition and throughout history,” Ben-Ari said.

According to the National Union MK, the Bible Society wanted to “step on the corpses of the millions of martyrs that were murdered because of their Judaism.”

As for allegations that Christians support the right, Ben-Ari accused the Likud of accepting donations from Evangelicals, and said that he, like his ideological forbearer Kach leader Rabbi Meir Kahane, would not accept a cent from non-Jews.

The Likud declined to comment.

Ben-Ari said he has no doubt his reaction was appropriate and called for all other MKs to throw the New Testament in the trash.

After Rivlin’s condemnation in the Knesset, several MKs reacted for and against Ben-Ari in the plenum.

MK Nissim Ze’ev (Shas) said the New Testaments sent to the Knesset were written by “heretics” – meaning messianic Jews – and as such must be burned. He added that a Torah written by a female Reform Rabbi should also be incinerated.

Ze’ev condemned missionary activity, and called sending the books to MKs a “pointless provocation.”

“I got a copy of the New Testament in the mail, too, but I never thought to rip it up or burn it,” MK Masud Gnaim (UAL-Ta’al) said, calling Ben-Ari and Ze’ev racists. “As a Muslim, I respect all religions’ holy books.”

MK Ahmed Tibi (UAL-Ta’al) broke a Knesset regulation, bringing a photograph of Kahane on the plenum stage, saying he is to blame for Ben-Ari’s actions, and tearing it up.

Dr. Juergen Beuhler, Director of the International Christian Embassy in Jerusalem, said that Ben-Ari’s actions “have needlessly inflamed this situation and were an obvious stunt to gain publicity.”

“We recognize that he does not represent the Israeli mainstream, which rejects this sort of incendiary act and shows respect for the sacred books of other faiths,” Beuhler added.

The Temple Mount is under Israeli law but authorities must be “extra sensitive” to applying the laws on the site, Attorney-General Yehuda Weinstein wrote in a letter to legal advisors at the Jerusalem Municipality, the Jerusalem police, and the Israel Antiquities Authority. Weinstein submitted his letter a few weeks ago, but the issue came to the forefront on Tuesday due to a petition to the High Court of Justice concerning the Temple Mount which is expected to be heard within the next week.

The petition was filed by the fringe activist group Temple Mount Faithful, who claim that infrastructure work carried out to strengthen the Dome of the Rock is harming the Foundation Stone, the large stone believed to have held the Ark of the Covenant. The group filed the petition and said that the work done by the Muslim Waqf is not under the supervision of the Israeli authorities and is damaging the holiest site in Judaism.

Weinstein stressed that the Temple Mount must abide by all laws from the Planning and Building committee and the Antiquities Authority. He also wrote that any time authorities need to “test the application of law in the Temple Mount complex” they should be pragmatic and take the area’s unique status into consideration.

Weinstein suggested that any reports on the situation should be sent to the National Security Council and the cabinet secretary.

Jerusalem police spokesman Shmuel Ben Ruby said the police maintain a continuous presence on the Temple Mount to ensure that the IAA has full access to the construction work. “There are some people who want to make noise, claiming that the work is damaging and doing this and that, but all of the work being done there are is under supervision of the Israel Antiquities Authority without any kind of damage to any antiquities,” he said. Ben Ruby added that the Foundation Stone is covered in nylon tarps and the scaffolding is built around the area. IAA refused to comment on the issue.

Temple Mount Faithful director Gershon Salomon accused Weinstein of “fleeing from the issue” and stressed that even if there is no physical damage the construction is still “desecrating it in the most grotesque way imaginable.” The High Court of Justice is expected to examine the issue in the coming week.

A response from the State Attorney’s Office to the petition from Sunday stressed that since the Dome of the Rock was built 1300 years ago, the infrastructure work is essential in order to strengthen the roof.