Sneaky Trojan Horse Swipes Data on 500,000 Bank Accounts
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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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
Lauren said 3:35PM on 11-03-2008
How do I know that this comment I am posting hasn't tracked down my bank account history?
Sadly, the internet has brought some of the best and worst things into the world.
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mikayla said 3:44PM on 11-03-2008
how is "thinking before you link" going to help an invisible virus? what does that even mean? Tell us how to know it has taken our info and what to do about it when it does!
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Jerry said 9:11PM on 11-03-2008
Well How I found out is 960.04 is missing from my checking acount thanks to my debit card and some hacker which first came in and turned off my norton internet security software
Heather said 4:05PM on 11-03-2008
Well obviously the people that devised this are freakin' morons. They are going to try to hack people's accounts through Myspace and Facebook, which are inhabitated by teenagers and college students most of which have no bank accounts or deliquent bank accounts! Way to try to get some money hackers! LOL I laugh at the chump that tries to hack all of my deliquent credit cards.
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BJ said 10:01PM on 11-03-2008
Heather,
Did you ever think whose computers those teenagers and college students are using??? Their parents probably don't have deliquent credit cards and possibly have savings accounts. The hackers aren't such freakin' morons after all are they.
goo said 11:04PM on 11-03-2008
Speak or yourself, or maybe you are...Learn to manage your money, big spender! If you can't afford it, don't buy it just to keep up with the joneses.
What a way to start a life!
blogging2 said 11:02PM on 11-09-2008
Another advantage of targeting this age group is they don't check near as often as those of us who are worried about bills do. If the hackers were taking out under $5 incriments once or twice a month how long would it take to detect?
Tim said 5:55AM on 11-04-2008
Exactly Heather, a lot of those computers those teenagers are using to surf these sites are shared by their parents. Even when not, when you are stealing access to (conservatively) hundreds of thousands of bank accounts, even if you only manage to steal $100 from each one this results in a massive cumulative theft (all of which the bank ends up being responsible for). Your delinquent credit cards are irrelevant and not all of us are delinquent or have balances.
neesee said 4:25PM on 11-03-2008
They already know everything about us all. They know more than we know ourselves! Face it folks, big brother has been watching for a very
long time and technology has gone so far beyond your imagination that
it is impossible to comprehend!
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Normando said 6:21PM on 11-04-2008
La Cosa Nostra says.....be aware, be smart and your comment is right on. Make certain you are 100% filtered and protected and watch what yor say online. Once online....you are watched, monitored and interpreted. Normando
Gail said 4:55PM on 11-03-2008
I don't go into MySpace, but my daughter does. How can I protect her and me from this trojan horse virus?
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run n gun 26 said 8:32PM on 11-03-2008
I recommend Comodo Internet Security. Its an all-in-one package of anti-virus, a firewall, and an anti-spyware.
Ron said 6:51PM on 11-03-2008
Believe what you are hearing I have had someone trying to guess my online banking account passwords since Oct 17th and am now satisfied that this is the problem.It has also gone to my friends pc. They are having the same problem. It started out by locking me out of my own email accounts and myspace accounts. Changed all info on both and I had to open new accounts.Yahoo would not even let me delete my own account.Does any one know how to delete this virus from my pc?
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james b. said 8:58PM on 11-03-2008
you can try system restore--but you have to know the day you got the virus to go back beyound that day--if all elae fail...there is always system recovery. while most would have you think you will lose all downloads and files--that only happens when you choose option # 2. if you just do a normal system recovery--most files and downloads stay in tack.
GOOD LUCK
Gene said 9:49PM on 11-03-2008
I recommend downloading AVG Anti-virus and Spy-Bot Search and Destroy. They are both free. I have used them for years and never had any problem at all. I am also surprised at the number of people that do not know how to do simple computer upkeep like Windows Internet Explorer: (Tools> Internet Options> Delete> Delete All...> Yes), Disk Cleanup, and Disk Defragmenter. Keep these things going and you will not have to deal with spyware and viruses and slow-downs and the like.
Harry Desai said 11:55AM on 11-04-2008
I have solved the identity problem by having two computers. On one computer I do all financial transactions. Nothing else.
The second computer does all web surfing but has no credit card or bank information. No programs such as excell or maoney or quicken.
If I get virus on the second computer, nothing lost. I just reboot and start all over again.
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What? said 8:42AM on 11-04-2008
I hate to tell you, Harry, but rebooting is not going to get rid of a virus...
CncrndCtzns@aol.com said 7:13PM on 11-03-2008
People who design these virues shgould be identified, tried criminally and executed. You no idea the damage they casue innocent people. The only way to stop this is to kill them.
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rick said 7:15AM on 11-04-2008
Before you log into an online bank account make sure https// shows first in the address line and the gold lock symbol is displayed last on the line if not the site is not secure. So do not log in until your bank has these security measures installed.
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Jerry said 7:26PM on 11-03-2008
Never ever! put sensitave information on your pc, NEVER!
if you are that stupid that you feel yo uhave to put your banking info on the net, pay bills etc.
YOU DESERVE TO LOSE WHAT YOU HAVE
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