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Large Zeus Botnet Used For Financial Fraud
An anonymous reader writes "A large Zeus version 2 botnet is being used to conduct financial fraud in the UK and is operated from Eastern Europe. The botnet appears to be controlling more than 100,000 infected computers. The criminals have been harvesting all manner of potentially lucrative and revenue-producing credentials — including online account IDs plus login information to banks, credit and debit card numbers, account types plus balances, bank statements, browser cookies, client side certificates, login information for email accounts and social networks, and even FTP passwords."
login information to banks, credit and debit card numbers, account types plus balances, bank statements, browser cookies, client side certificates, login information for email accounts and social networks and even FTP passwords
I was not mad right up until that last one and even FTP passwords. They can have all that other crap but when they take my precious FTP password, and I use FTP for all my most critical-to-security interent functions, well...war on buddy.
Breaking News: Another XXl botnet steals bank account numbers. However, the acquisition of emails and Facebook accounts is worrying.
Zeus version 2
So, like a good little early adopter, I upgraded and installed version 2 on my machine only to find that it was a huge bloated piece of crap. The original Zeus was so much more simple and elegant and now this thing is just chewing up cycles. Yeah, like the customer won't notice that. Seriously, all I wanted it to do was safely back up my bank statements to a remote server in case I lose them. And after the "Zeus Certified" debacle, I don't know who to believe when I ask "Will this computer run the simplest of viruses like Adobe PDF Reader?" Clearly Zeus is just a resource hog ... and looking forward at Version 3 (if it's even released on time) one wonder if they're even trying to build a quality botnet anymore. It's times like these that make you wonder if it's time to switch over to Mariposa ...
Botnet herders have access to a very large number of computers, it was only a matter of time until they realized that the data on these computers is worth far more than the few pence they are making from Viagra spam and blackmailing gambling sites with DDOS attacks.
Mariposa is just as bloated - if not more so.
not only that, its less secure because it doesnt have a "benevolent dictator" calling the shots design-wise.
im running Conficker and its been working like a charm. granted, its market share is not that great, and as long as you hold the mouse the right way, it "just works".
honestly, i think this will be the year of the Conficker. Mariposa and Zeus are just too behind the curve.
It seems clear to my personal experience, and friends of mine who are in computer security, that Os X and Linux are orders of magnitude more secure than Windows.
While I'm sure OS X and Linux can be exploited, I think we'd all be far safer if they were adopted to anywhere near the ubiquity of windows. And who knows? That may be soon, if Google apps and other productivity software is available for free or cheap as compared to Windows, and its current lock on business drone software.
The Invisible Hand of the Free Market is what punches workers in the nuts.