. ▁ 2 5 6 ▁bytes ▁of ▁random ▁data ), ▁coll isions ▁for ▁every ▁user ▁would ▁have ▁to ▁be ▁carried ▁out . ▁K asp ers ky ▁has ▁said ▁the ▁mal ware ' s ▁main ▁vict ims ▁are ▁private ▁individuals , ▁small ▁business es ▁and ▁tele com ▁companies . ▁Regin ▁has ▁been ▁compared ▁to ▁St ux net ▁and ▁is ▁thought ▁to ▁have ▁been ▁developed ▁by ▁" well - res our ced ▁teams ▁of ▁developers ", ▁possibly ▁a ▁Western ▁government , ▁as ▁a ▁target ed ▁multi - pur pose ▁data ▁collection ▁tool . ▁ ▁According ▁to ▁Die ▁Welt , ▁security ▁exper ts ▁at ▁Microsoft ▁gave ▁it ▁the ▁name ▁" R egin " ▁in ▁ 2 0 1 1 , ▁after ▁the ▁c unning ▁Nor se ▁d war f ▁Regin . ▁ ▁Operation ▁Regin ▁uses ▁a ▁mod ular ▁approach ▁allowing ▁it ▁to ▁load ▁features ▁that ▁exactly ▁fit ▁the ▁target , ▁en abling ▁custom ized ▁sp ying . ▁The ▁design ▁makes ▁it ▁highly ▁su ited ▁for ▁persistent , ▁long - term ▁mass ▁surve ill ance ▁operations ▁against ▁targets . ▁ ▁Regin ▁is ▁ste alth y ▁and ▁does ▁not ▁store ▁multiple ▁files ▁on ▁the ▁inf ected ▁system ; ▁instead ▁it ▁uses ▁its ▁own ▁encrypted ▁virtual ▁file ▁system ▁( EV FS ) ▁entirely ▁contained ▁within ▁what ▁looks ▁like ▁a ▁single ▁file ▁with ▁an ▁innoc uous ▁name ▁to ▁the ▁host , ▁within ▁which ▁files ▁are ▁identified ▁only ▁by ▁a ▁numeric ▁code , ▁not ▁a ▁name . ▁The ▁E V FS ▁emp lo ys ▁a ▁variant ▁encryption ▁of ▁the ▁rarely ▁used