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Cyber Crooks Steal $180K off a Small Sized Business in USA

According to Brian Krebs, Security Journalist, online-crooks targeted Primary Systems Inc., in a bank heist and filched $180,000 right at the first attempt. This was done with the help of one cunningly-installed malware. Primary Systems Inc. notably is based in Missouri and provides communications together with security solutions for improved performance of its clients. This report by Krebs appeared in softpedia.com dated November 6, 2012.

Krebs further says that it was in May 2012 that cyber-criminals first hijacked Primary Systems' computer systems as an employee of the company too inquisitive, but unsuspicious of a spam mail viewed its attachment, which actually contained malware. This malware -a backdoor- infected one of the PCs. Hotforsecurity.com released this in news on November 6, 2012.

Soon the company learnt about the problem, as one excessively long list of payroll, amounting to some $180,000 (EUR140,000) was discovered that understandably had been given away.

Indeed, during the course of the theft, funds that were withdrawn from the bank accounts of Primary Systems summed $5,000-$9,000 in different batches that got credited to 26 sinister persons' bank A/Cs while the persons acted as money-mules. These money-mules spread across USA and were directed for transferring the stolen money over to the crooks' accounts in Ukraine.

At first, the Chief Financial Officer of Primary Systems thought that some bank error was behind the disappearance of the funds. However, when Enterprise Bank & Trust, a financial institution substantiated its authorization of the payroll's list, the Officer started thinking otherwise.

Meanwhile, the above kinds of incidences have gotten commonplace which must suggest organizations for greater alertness as the said scams can prove utterly damaging particularly to small firms.

Moreover, the attack on Primary Systems offers a couple of important lessons worth keeping in mind. First, crooks can hardly be erroneous in achieving their purpose. They nearly always plan their ruse just right for making sure they not only embezzle funds or do other wrongs, however also, ensure they escape unscathed.

Secondly, small organizations without an all-time-present IT experts for supervising their networks' operations must even more importantly educate their employees regarding spam and the ill-effects of viewing one.

Related article: Cyber Attackers Move To Abandoned Sites

» SPAMfighter News - 11/16/2012

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