‘Gameover’ Malicious Program Traced to ZeuS’ Creator

An e-mail scam, which has been spreading fast, distributes phishing messages pretending to be from FDIC (Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation), the Federal Reserve Bank, or NACHA (National Automated Clearing House Association), which potentially contaminate recipients' PCs by dropping malware, as also enable the phishers to gain admission into the victims' bank accounts, reported FBI dated January 23, 2012.

Ideally dubbed as "Gameover," the malware, after infecting an end-user' PC, captures his username and password, while permeates standard user-authentication methods that banks and other financial institutions employ. Security Expert Jackson, since many years, has been monitoring ZeuS along with the malware's creator. Accordingly he states that Gameover is one fresh and increasingly perilous online hazard as its creator, the ZeuS developer made it when his most influential customers asked to do so. ESecurity Planet published this on January 23, 2012.

Thus, issuing an alert, the FBI said that Gameover was getting increasingly active in spewing spam, which potentially deceived recipients into installing malware onto their PCs and which, similar as ZeuS, plundered companies' and consumers' financial accounts.

Meanwhile, as indicated, FBI further alerts that the latest spam mails pose as messages from FDIC, the Federal Reserve, or NACHA notifying recipients about a so-called trouble in their bank accounts alternatively in just-concluded ACH transaction. There's one web-link too inside the e-mails which the end-users are suggested for clicking so the problem can be supposedly solved. For, upon clicking, they're taken onto a contaminated site from where they download Gameover by mistake that quickly infects their systems as well as filches the entire Internet-banking details.

Describing further the Gameover malware, Jackson says it must be regarded as ZeuS' private version that also facilitates in applying complicated Web-insertions, helpful for evading multi-factor authentication, published ComputerWorld dated January 23, 2012.

Reportedly, first it was ZeuS, a crimeware kit whose development stopped with the leakage of its source-code, then followed SpyEye anther similar toolkit, which had ZeuS' features incorporated. Nonetheless, FBI suggests end-users who might get victimized with any of the above scams to instantly report to their bank or credit company alternatively notify to the Internet Crime Complaint Center of FBI.

Related article: “Loopholes did not cause online banking thefts”: ICBC

» SPAMfighter News - 1/27/2012