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SpyEye Poses Risk To Banking Defenses
Financial institutions are facing more trouble from SpyEye, a piece of malicious software that steals money from customers online bank accounts, according to new research from security vendor Trusteer.
SpyEye is a dastardly piece of malicious software: it can harvest credentials for online accounts and also initiate transactions as a person is logged into their account, literally making it possible to watch their bank balance drop by the second.
In its latest versions, SpyEye has been modified with new code designed to evade advanced systems banks have put in place to try and block fraudulent transactions, said Mickey Boodai, Trusteer’s CEO.
Banks are now analyzing how a person uses their site, looking at parameters such as how many pages a person looks at on the site, the amount of time a person spends on a page and the time it takes a person to execute a transaction. Other indicators include IP address, such as if a person who normally logs in from the Miami area suddenly logs in from St. Petersburg, Russia.
SpyEye works fast, and can automatically and quickly initiate a transaction much faster than an average person manually on the website. That’s a key trigger for banks to block a transaction. So SpyEye’s authors are now trying to mimic — albeit in an automated way — how a real person would navigate a website.
Citigroup Hackers Pocketed $2.7 million
June 29, 2011 by admin
Filed under Around The Net
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Citigroup suffered about $2.7 million in losses after cybercriminals uncovered a way to lift credit card numbers from its website and make fraudulent transactions.
Citi acknowledged the breach earlier this month, saying hackers had gained accessed to more than 360,000 Citi credit card accounts of U.S. customers. The hackers didn’t breach Citi’s main credit card processing system, but were reportedly able to obtain the numbers, along with the customers’ names and contact information, by logging into the Citi Account Online website and guessing account numbers.
Until now, it wasn’t revealed if any fraud had occurred as a result of the theft. But Citi confirmed Friday that there were losses of $2.7 million from about 3,400 accounts.
The bank has said its customers will not be liable for the fraudalent transactions and losses as a result of them.
Acer Is The Latest Victim Of Computer Hacking
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Taiwanese PC manufacturer Acer is investigating a cyber hacker attack that stole customer data from its Packard Bell division in Europe, the company said.
Acer said the security breach was limited to customers’ names, addresses, phone numbers, emails, and system serial numbers. No credit card data was stolen, it said. Acer provided no other details about the breach, and said the investigation was ongoing.
News of the breach was reported several days ago, after a hacker group called Pakistan Cyber Army claimed to have stolen the personal data of about 40,000 people from an Acer server in Europe. Acer did not comment on the attack at the time.
The Hacker News had published screen shots of the personal data and some of the source code that was stolen in the security breach. It also said that the Pakistan Cyber Army would issue a press release detailing more about their motives. But so far, no new information has surfaced from the hacking group.
Sony Hacked Again
May 29, 2011 by admin
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More than 2000 users of Sony Ericsson’s Canadian Website are impacted by the latest hack attack to hit a battle worn Sony. Sony Ericsson is joint mobile phone venture between Sony and Ericsson. According to Sony hackers made off with e-mail addresses, passwords and phone numbers–but no credit card details. Sony has now shut down the affected site. Around 1000 of the stolen records from the Sony Canadian Website are already online, posted by Idahc, a “Lebanese grey-hat hacker”.
“Sony Ericsson’s Website in Canada, which advertises its products, has been hacked, affecting 2000 people,” a Sony spokesperson told AFP. “Their personal information was posted on a Website called The Hacker News. The information includes registered names, email addresses and encrypted passwords. But it does not include credit card information.”
“Sony Ericsson has disabled this e-commerce Website,” Sony detailed to IDG News. “We can confirm that this is a standalone website and it is not connected to Sony Ericsson servers.” For security, Sony has shut down the Canadian Sony Ericsson eShop page, which currently reads: “D’oh! The page you’re looking for has gone walkabout. Sorry.”
Google Moves Quickly To Plug Data Leaks
May 24, 2011 by admin
Filed under Smartphones
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Google confirmed that it’s starting to roll out a server-side patch for a security vulnerability in most Android phones that could allow hackers to access important credentials at public Wi-Fi hotspots.
“Today we’re starting to roll out a fix which addresses a potential security flaw that could, under certain circumstances, allow a third party access to data available in Calendar and Contacts,” said a Google spokesman in an emailed statement. “This fix requires no action from users and will roll out globally over the next few days.”
Google will apparently apply the fix to its servers since it does not need to push out an over-the-air update to Android phones.
Experts applauded Google’s fast reaction.
“It’s impressive how quickly Google fixed this,” said Kevin Mahaffey, chief technology officer and a co-founder of San Francisco-based mobile security firm Lookout. “Google’s security team, especially on Android, is very, very quick to deal with issues.”
Whatever Google is implementing will shut the security hole that three German researchers publicized last week.
According to the University of Ulm researchers, who tested another researcher’s contention last February that Android phones sent authentication data in the clear, hackers could easily spoof a Wi-Fi hotspot — in a public setting such as an airport or coffee shop — then snatch information that users’ phones transmitted during synchronization.
In Android 2.3.3 and earlier, the phone’s Calendar and Contacts apps transmit information via unencrypted HTTP, then retrieve an authentication token from Google. Hackers could eavesdrop on the HTTP traffic at a public hotspot, lift authentication tokens and use them for up to two weeks to access users’ Web-based calendars, their contacts and also the Picasa photo storage and sharing service.