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How do you imagine a bank robbery? Masked men with guns and lots of terror? Perhaps it has been the most vivid image of a bank robber for many years, but now the situation is changing and the Internet is at the pinnacle of it. Bank robbers no longer need to go to the bank to steal your money. Now they can use the ever growing cyber network to attain your financial credentials, falsify debit cards and then steal the money using a variety of means and methods. Vikram Thakur at Symantec Security Response reveals and entire new scheme of cyberattacks that is not less dangerous than a robber with a mask and a gun.

The new scheme of bank robbery

Perhaps when we imagine a cyber criminal, we think that the person in question does everything from creating malware, to stealing financial data and then eventually stealing the money. However, according to Vikram Thakur, that is not the case with today’s cyber crime networks. Cyber criminals actually practice work-sharing and exchanges software in the underground black market on the Internet. For example, a criminal hacker can buy a malicious software application from a developer. The software is used to steal confidential data. With a high number of malware developers out there, hackers no longer have to be extremely well-versed in technology to hack into computers.

When hackers steal the confidential financial information (such as email addresses, for example), they sell the data on the black market to cybercriminals, who either perform illegal financial operations online, or hire the so-called “money mule” to extract the money via ATM with a stolen PIN code and a fake debit card. Security experts note that experienced cyber criminals usually cut themselves out of the chain, so that they could not be traced, and make use of “money mules” to collect the money. In this network, money mules are the ones that face the highest risk of getting caught, although they get the smallest share of the loot.

An example of an electronic fraud

That being said, with the cyber criminals becoming more and more inventive, I guess it is important to mention of the most prevalent online frauds – the Ukash Virus or the FBI MoneyPak virus. These infections give you an exact taste of what cyber theft feels like, because there are hundreds of different localized versions of this computer infection, each attacking users in different countries. The Ukash Virus blocks user’s desktop and then claims that the user has violated national laws so he/she needs to pay a fine. Granted, Ukash Virus does not tap into your bank account, but it is one of the ways how users’ money can be stolen nowadays.

Future perspectives

Nevertheless, with the increase of cyber frauds online, the banks and other financial institutions are also on high alert in order to protect you from financial loss. Not to mention that, if money is stolen directly from your bank account, the bank covers the loss, because your money is insured. What is more, insurance is not the only thing financial institutions are counting on. Since electronic fraud is only going to increase, the banks have gotten better at preventing financial data breaches as well. Now it is your turn to recognize cyber criminals online and keep your sensitive data away from them!

‘You Steal Music I Lock Your PC’ is a malicious infection which takes over the operating Windows system and blocks access to the desktop as soon as your personal computer boots up. Anti-Spyware-101.com researchers have discovered that the threat reconfigures the BIOS, so that you could not access it. Without a doubt, this may create serious removal issues because of the disabled access to the Safe Mode. The infection manifests through a screen-locking alert which suggests that your PC has been blocked due to some illegal music downloading or distribution. Read more »

Infolinks is a legitimate advertising platform that displays in-text advertisements. This advertizing network is used by a number of website owners who want to earn money by displaying Infolinks advertisements on their pages. When users enter websites and see underlined keywords, they know that the moment they would hover their mouse above a specific word, an advertisement would pop up. In a way, it may seem as though the website your are visiting or your browser is infected with adware, but Infolinks is an absolutely legitimate advertising network, and it is embedded into a specific website, because its owner wanted to do so. Read more »

Almost all Skype users know that this instant messaging platform has been targeted several times by cyber criminals.  It has been detected recently that there is a new campaign seeking to infect computer via Skype messages. In addition to the text of the message, the reader finds a link. If the link is clicked, a computer infection is executed and all the Skype contacts receive the same message. Read more »

Why does Urausy Ransomware Employ Fake Video Codecs?

The malicious Urausy Trojan is a ransomware which targets operating Windows systems located in various countries all around the world. The infection is also known by the names of CashU Virus, Ukash Virus, Police Virus, EC3 Police Virus or ICSPA Virus. These names are accredited to the infection accordingly to the money transfer system or law enforcement credentials attached to it. Since the threat is detected in different locations across the world, there are a number of different names which you could recognize it by. Read more »

Do you use Facebook? Over 1 billion people all over the world use this social networking site to connect with their friends, post photos and send private messages. The platform is exceptionally popular, and cyber criminals know this. As research shows, any click could be detrimental if you do not take appropriate measures to safeguard your personal Facebook account and the entire operating system altogether. Anti-Spyware-101.com researchers warn that you should be most careful about social engineering scams which are spreading across the web. One of the threats you need to shield against is the infamous Facebook has Changed their Privacy Settings Scam. So how can your Facebook account get hacked? What dangers lie behind this? How can you protect your virtual identity? Read more »

A new version of a malicious ransomware infection has been detected. Widely known as Your computer has been locked! Virus, the malicious program runs with the assistance of the malicious Kovter infection. All that schemers need to infiltrate the devious trojan onto the PC is for you to click on a random link, open a corrupted spam email attachment, follow a clandestine advertisement or install a bundled download. After this, the malignant Kovter Read more »

Computer protection experts keep developing more and more advanced security tools which are meant to guard your virtual security. Nevertheless, schemers behind the Facebook has Changed their Privacy Settings Scam have proven that more and more new ways to expose security backdoors are invented. Even though to this date there is no information allowing Read more »

With Twitter, Microsoft, Apple and Facebook having been hit by hackers in the last few months, now it is Evernote’s turn. The company has announced that around 50 million users' personal data was compromised during a security breach on the first weekend of March. The users affected were informed about it in an email sent by the Evernote, asking them to reset their passwords. Evernote reported that the hackers tried to access secure areas of the service, but luckily they have not succeeded. Unfortunately, the hackers got their hands on millions of usernames, email addresses and passwords. Read more »

Citadel Trojan, the latest version of Zeus malware, is one the biggest concerns for a great number of various institutions around the world. The former version of Citadel is known for its capability to steal online banking credentials and access online banking accounts, while the new Citadel is now also capable of stealing different intellectual property. Read more »