Skip to main content

‘Most Dangerous Trojan Virus Ever’ Steals Over $1 Million

It is like the plot of a Hollywood movie, only the bad guys are definitely winning so far. Earlier this week, the internet security group M86 uncovered a Trojan virus targeting an unnamed financial institution in the UK. The “Zeus Trojan” has already siphoned off over $1 million from over 3,000 British customers between July 5 and August 4, and it shows no signs of stopping.

The thefts were discovered after M86 gained access to the command-and-control server in the Eastern Europe country of Moldova. As for the money, M86 could not give an exact location for where it was going, other than to suggest that it was heading into the former Soviet states- which likely meant that the money was going to the Russian mafia, or another Eastern European gang.

“We’ve never seen such a sophisticated and dangerous threat. Always check your balance and have a good idea of what it is.” M86 said in a security report released on Tuesday.

The Zeus Trojan, also known as Zbot has infected more than 37,000 computers in the UK through a drive-by download. Users visiting a compromised site would unknowingly receive the virus as a cookie, hidden as part of a legitimate ad on potentially any website.

Once the virus is on the computer, it waits until the user goes to their bank’s website — it is only one specific bank that has yet to be named as the investigation is ongoing — and then it intercepts password information before it can be encrypted.  Once the trojan has access to the account, it checks to make sure that there is at least £800 available, then it begins to transfer anywhere up to £5,000 to various bank accounts. Once the transfer is complete, the virus then creates a false electronic statement to conceal the missing funds.

Most, if not all, of the victims will have their money reimbursed by the bank.

“In the vast majority of cases, if people had kept their computer’s operating systems and software such as Internet Explorer up to date they would not have been attacked,” Ed Rowley, product manager at M86 said, according to the Daily Mail.

“More often than not Trojans exploit known vulnerabilities that can be simply patched and fixed by downloading updates.”

Earlier this month, the UK based security group, Trusteer warned that more than 100,000 computers may have been infected with the Zeus Trojan, meaning that this is far from over.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
Ryan Fleming
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Ryan Fleming is the Gaming and Cinema Editor for Digital Trends. He joined the DT staff in 2009 after spending time covering…
PC airflow guide: How to position your fans for best cooling
Exhaust fan in PC case.

Fan placement is an important component in your system's cooling. The quantity, positioning, and orientation of fans affects overall system performance, noise levels, and how often you need to clean your whole system out. Although you aren't going to see a dramatic difference in your PC's performance from adding one more fan, or making sure they're pushing instead of pulling (or vice versa), it's still useful to optimize this part of your PC's cooling to get the best experience for you, the PC user.

So, whether you're looking to boost your system's cooling to improve your overclock, or want to keep your fan speeds as low as possible without overheating, here's a guide to PC airflow, as well as some suggestions on fan placement and position that you might find useful.
Get the basics down

Read more
Why you should buy a MacBook Pro instead of a MacBook Air
The 14-inch MacBook Pro on a window sill.

There are plenty of reasons to buy a MacBook Air instead of a MacBook Pro. If you want a MacBook on a budget, you don't necessarily need the goodies that come with upgrading to the MacBook Pro.

That being said, I'm going to argue for spending a little more. In my experience, the MacBook Pro offers several distinct advantages that help justify a higher price, especially with the introduction of the more affordable MacBook Pro 14 with the base M3. If you can stretch your budget a bit, here's why I think you should buy a MacBook Pro instead of a MacBook Air.
Setting the stage: pricing

Read more
Windows 11 vs. Windows 10: finally time to upgrade?
The screen of the Surface Pro 9.

Windows 11 is the newest version of Windows, and it's one of the best Windows versions released. At launch, the operating system was very similar to Windows 10, but it has morphed a lot over the past several years. Now, Windows 11 has several key differences compared to Windows 10.

If you've been holding out on upgrading, we have everything you need to know about Windows 11 and how it's different than Windows 10 in this article. We'll detail the differences, as well as show you the areas where Windows 11 is growing faster than Windows 10.
Windows 11 vs. Windows 10: what's new

Read more