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The next time you upload pictures from your birthday bash or post comments to your favorite social networking site, you may be doing more than putting your reputation on the line and online. You may also be exposing your bank account data to a pretty sneaky Trojan horse.
A Trojan horse called Sinowal, which to date has gathered more than 500,000 online bank accounts, may be one of the most advanced and dangerous security risks on the Web, according to Internet security firms that track these sorts of things.
Apparently devised in Eastern Europe – most likely Russia – the Sinowal Trojan and its variants stealthily gather banking data by waiting for unsuspecting users to browse commonly trafficked Web destinations, including popular social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace. A user doesn't need to click on a pop-up window or do anything else traditionally seen as risky -- the Trojan downloads to the user's computer in the background automatically.
That the Sinowal Trojan has been around for about two years already has some Internet security folks extra worried. Sean Brady, of security firm RSA, told the BBC:
"One of the key points of interest about this particular Trojan is that it has existed for two and a half years quietly collecting information. Any IT professional will tell you it costs a lot to maintain and to store the information it is gathering. The group behind it have made sure to invest in the infrastructure no doubt because the return and the potential return is so great."
These so called "drive-by" infections are cropping up all across the Internet, with as many as 1 in 10 sites showing some kind of malicious software risk, according to a Google estimate.
The advice from Web security experts: Think before you link. For information on more sneaky computer viruses you should watch out for, check out our round-up below [From BBC News.]
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Comments
44
Subscribe to commentsmicheleNov 4th 2008 12:21PM
I know an attorney who accepts cases through the FTC and he insists the only payment website on the net that is even CLOSE to secure is Paypal. Submitting your credit card anywhere else is a crapshoot, no matter how secure a website claims to be.
suzNov 4th 2008 1:14PM
people should seriously stop stealing and get a real job! brains to our real warriors the hard working class americans!
AnthonyNov 4th 2008 6:11PM
Or maybe people should probably get their own computers, i see that many people are worried about their info being found by someone elses doing, just get everybody in your family a computer where everything is their problem, i would imagine that it costs less than someone taking all your money.
RegalRed1Nov 4th 2008 6:35PM
To clarify this trojan a little better than the writer of the article...
this trojan is what's called a RAT (remote access trojan). RATs have the potential for significant damage. Their ability to remotely control PCs and capture screens, keystrokes, audio, and video makes them far more dangerous than typical viruses and worms. RATs do not infect via uploading pictures or posting comments like this writer mentioned...they are installed through executables (.exe). Once downloaded and executed, the intruder has full remote control of your computer and can gain access to anything you have stored onto your computer such as bank accounts, medical records, credit card numbers, social security numbers.