Loading ...Computers have come to dominate every facet of our existence. Our increased reliance on computers has led cyber criminals to have a field day; a clever hacker can infiltrate and cripple vital networks. In one instance, a teenager had hacked into the CIA website, leaving the US security experts red-faced. Banks and other financial institutions are considered to be equally vulnerable. Sophisticated malware and Trojans have been designed that can hack into personal bank accounts and withdraw all the cash within no time.
Now, cyber criminals have hacked into the bank accounts of thousands of British Internet bank customers in one of the most daring attacks of its kind. The malefactors employed a malicious computer program that sits in home computers to get access to passwords and account information from nearly 3,000 people. The scam was uncovered by Internet security experts M86, who said that at least £675,000 has been illegally moved out of the UK within the last month.
Malware and Trojans are malicious computer programs that silently infiltrate into your computer and steal key information, such as banking or social networking passwords. In the above case, for instance, the new Trojan virus used these malicious tricks to devastating effect. The victims remained none the wiser as their bank statements were faked. The victims all banked at the same unnamed online bank. This was a particularly malicious cybercrime.
In this case, the attacks occurred when Trojans infected thousands of home PCs. Trojans hide in websites and e-mails and steal valuable data. Once it has been installed on a home PC, it waits until the user visits his online bank, then secretly steals confidential data, leaving victims poorer by many thousands of dollars. They can even be remotely controlled from another country and can be hard to trace. A Trojan called Zeus v3 was responsible for the above hacking. This Trojan hides insides advertisements on genuine websites.
The attack is thought to have originated from a place somewhere in Eastern Europe. The identity of the cyber criminals still remains a mystery. But the UK authorities are doing all they can to bring the culprits to book.
