SAN FRANCISCO — Did the National Security Agency plant spyware deep in the hard drives of thousands of computers used by foreign governments, banks and other surveillance targets around the world?

A new report from Russian cybersecurity firm Kaspersky Lab said its researchers identified a new family of malicious programs or worms that infected computers in multiple countries, primarily overseas. Targets appeared to be specifically selected and included military, Islamic activists, energy companies and other businesses, as well as government personnel.

Without naming the United States as the source of the malware, the report said one of the programs has elements in common with the so-called Stuxnet worm, which the New York Times and Washington Post have said was developed by the U.S. and Israeli governments to disrupt Iranian nuclear facilities. Based on their similarities, the creators of both programs “are either the same or working closely together,” Kaspersky’s report said.

The malware was not designed for financial gain but to collect information through “pure cyberespionage,” added Kaspersky researcher Vitaly Kamluk. In its report, the firm said the malware was extremely sophisticated and “expensive to develop.”

NSA spokeswoman Vanee Vines declined comment Tuesday, but cited a 2014 presidential directive that instructed U.S. intelligence agencies to respect Americans’ privacy while continuing to conduct overseas operations necessary to guard against terrorism or other threats.