Malware Compelled Franklin Savings Bank to Shutdown Website

The Franklin Savings Bank (Farmington, USA), which shutdown its marketing site for the 2nd time in a week, put online customers at inconvenience. However, early detection proved helpful in preventing a malware from spreading.

On April 9, 2009, customers could not access the bank's site, as the bank took it offline following the malware's detection by their security mechanisms. The problem appeared again on April 15, 2009, resulting in another shutdown till the bank shifted site to some other Web host.

Presently, consumers attempting to visit Franklin Savings Bank's websites, www.franklinebranch.com, www.westernmountainfinancial.com and www.fsbme.com would find a warning that says these websites are not available because of system maintenance.

Tim Thompson, Senior Vice President, Franklin Savings Bank, said that the malware that attacked their web page in the 2nd week of April 2009 seemed to be spreading widely on the PC servers belonging to the web hosting firm, as reported by sunjournal on April 17, 2009.

Thompson further said that they blocked access to the page again so that the threat did not reach their clients. According to him, the bank was shifting to a new hosting firm and soon they would have a new page for its visitors.

Meanwhile, authorities stated that client data was safe as the affected website was not linked to the bank's operations. They also said that it was essential to know that the bank's marketing website was separate from the software for online banking and it did not have any link with customer information.

As for the malware, the IT department of the bank said that while its source was not known, it did not target financial institutions specifically.

Moreover, security researchers stated the malware on the bank's page leads users to a website hosted in China that gives more instructions on them. Thus, users have been advised that they should protect their PCs from viruses or malware by routinely updating their antiviruses.

In fact, Symantec recently warned that online-crooks were profiting from tailored attacks they designed and launched to steal secret data, especially credit card and bank account credentials.

Related article: Malware Authors Turn More Insidious

» SPAMfighter News - 4/25/2009