Hackers Repurpose Zeus towards Stealing from Company Bank Accounts

According to one report that the well-known news website Associated Press published with respect to certain details in connection with several thefts by hackers from bank accounts, computer hackers are assigning the Trojan, Zeus a new purpose that of attacking the bank accounts of businessmen.

Says vulnerability testing firm Idappcom, the reason why Zeus is being diversified is that there are usually more balances in company bank accounts. Also companies involve many people; consequently there are many batches of user details, so more opportunities for gaining admission into the accounts over the Internet.

Said CEO Ray Bryant of Idappcom, from the time of Zeus' first emergence during the 2007 summer, the firm had been monitoring the Trojan's constant progress, particularly because it was effectively altered during the 2009 spring, whilst hackers found it was possible to use the malware further via utilizing extensive script and coding. Insurance TECHNOLOGY reported this on November 23, 2010.

Bryant added that currently, as several U.S companies were finding, Zeus continued to be very much active that had stolen from company bank accounts worth huge amounts of dollars. He gave an example wherein large diverse organizations like Des Moines (Iowa) based Catholic Diocese and the Experi-Metal in Detroit were found to have collectively perforce parted from $1.14m.

Furthermore, Bryant outlined that money-mules involved in bank frauds frequently knew that the bank accounts they held were getting utilized for offensive activities, while when they got a text message or e-mail from their recruiters, they transferred the huge funds to the accounts of those people after deducting their own commissions.

Meanwhile, statistics from the Federal Bureau of Investigation that also has been tracing businesses hit with Zeus, according to Bryant, are overwhelming with regards to their range as well as the amount of funds getting stolen out of company bank accounts. He adds that 390 cases were reported since 2008, focusing on attempted heists worth $220m as also original loss worth $70m.

Eventually Bryant observes that companies along with customers require being extremely watchful while logging into personal Internet bank accounts, as also adopting all possible security measures.

Related article: Hackers Redirect Windows Live Search to Malicious Sites

» SPAMfighter News - 12/4/2010