As you may be aware, some time ago, HBGary Federal was experimenting with stuxnet decompiles, and suspected to be planning on using it for their own purposes. The hacker group Anonymous intercepted multiple emails and compromised one of their servers to find that they had most of the stuxnet source code. Anonymous then released this source to the public. A While after this, we see Duqu appear. While Duqu is very similar to Stuxnet, it is still quite different. This leads us to believe that while it was based on the source of Stuxnet, the version released by Anonymous, it was coded, or modified, by someone else.
After that, we encounter Flame. This malware is very different, although many of its features are quite similar. Many thought Flame was an attack by a government, possibly the US. There is little to no evidence to support this, although it is entirely possible. This malware was also derived from the stuxnet source, although it was modified a great deal more than Duqu. So, once again, this is most likely from another coder entirely.
Now, a newer malware was detected, and named "Gauss".While much of this malware is still unknown as its main payload is fairly heavily encrypted, it seems to fall in with Stuxnet, Duqu, Flame, etc. There are also some who think this is another governmental espionage virus. While I do not know much about this malware, it does seem likely that governments are relying heavily on things like malware for infosec and things of that nature. Things like Flame could even be used to shut down power grids, take over full control of a network, etc, which could be extremely useful.
As soon as I learn more about Gauss, or the relationship between all these trojans/malware I will let you know.
More on Gauss
http://www.crysys.hu/
Eset
Stuxnet source
github
Credits
Eset
Crowdleaks
