I think paranoia is warranted here.
Russians and Chinese develop all the most sophisticated viruses. Yes, a lot of it is stupidity by pranksters with egos, but at the top end with rootkits and botnets, I’m not so sure...
I think it’s a serious game with national security implications and if you think about it, they might be doing dry runs and live tests for more sophisticated versions they are keeping for a special occasion.
If there are government agencies behind some of the top virus, wouldn’t it make sense they would also want to measure its success and progress? No I wouldn’t trust this agency
They are doing it for many reasons. To steal money and information. The industrial espionage is just as valuable as the national security information. They are able to rapidly increase their own technology by stealing it from others, without any significant investment.