BALTIMORE — Thousands of American and international businesses may be at risk from leaked stolen malware that was developed by the U.S. National Security Agency. <br /> <br />Hackers calling themselves the “Shadow Brokers” claim to have stole malware developed from the Equation Group, a team of hackers connected to the NSA. <br /> <br />Standard firewalls used by businesses are designed to protect offices from most malware and cyber attacks. However, using reportedly stolen NSA-developed malware, hackers may be able to override the security used by many businesses. <br /> <br />Details of the alleged hack are unknown, but former NSA analyst Edward Snowden noted in a tweet from his official Twitter account that “the hacking of an NSA malware staging server is not unprecedented, but the publication of it is.” <br /> <br />Some experts have tentatively speculated that the hackers may have been based in Russia.
