Another new Trojan intercepts online banking information

[OhioChick]

Another new Trojan intercepts online banking information

January 14, 2008 (Network World) -- A new Trojan program is targeting unwitting users' bank data by intercepting account information before it is encrypted and sending it to an attacker's central database.

The Trojan, dubbed Trojan.Silentbanker by security software company Symantec, can intercept online banking transactions that normally are well guarded by two-factor authentication procedures. During a banking transaction, Silentbanker will change the user's bank account details over to the attacker's account, all the while mimicking what the user would expect to see from a typical banking transaction. Because users have no idea their account data has been changed, they then unknowingly send money to the attacker's account after entering their second authentication password.

Although the Trojan.Silentbanker is listed by Symantec as having a low level of distribution and being easy to remove from infected machines, Symantec security response team member Liam O'Murchu says it still poses a danger because of its ability to work without users detecting it.

"The scale and sophistication of this emerging banking Trojan is worrying, even for someone who sees banking Trojans on a daily basis," writes O'Murchu on Symantec's security response blog. "This Trojan downloads a configuration file that contains the domain names of over 400 banks. Not only are the usual large American banks targeted but banks in many other countries are also targeted, including France, Spain, Ireland, the UK, Finland, Turkey -- the list goes on."

http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9057240&intsrc=hm_list

[jojo54]

1. ...which is why I don't do any

banking, shopping or trading online. Never have, never will unless stamps are abolished.

[damntexdem]

2. Damn condoms!

[crud76]

3. "Data" is the plural form of "datum"

Therefore, your statement should read, "Because users have no idea their account data have been changed..."

[lurky]

4. You're fighting a losing battle.

You are grammatically correct, but I think the error has effectively been incorporated into our contemporary language. When was the last time you heard a newscaster utter the phrase "data are"? I don't think I ever have. I'm pretty sure this one is going the way of the split infinitive.

[ThoughtCriminal]

5. The amount of time it takes to scan

The number of files and the number of trojans are both growing faster than the speed of my computers. Eventually 100% of my computer's CPU time will be dedicated to looking for viruses and trojans. The daily AVG scan is already up to 3 hours.