Search This Blog
Powered by Blogger.

Blog Archive

Labels

Load More
Trendy Right Now

Popular Posts

Showing posts with label Banking Trojans. Show all posts
Phishing Attacks
Banking Trojans Chrome Extensions CyberCartel malware Phishing Attacks

CyberCartel: Latest Banking Trojan Threat in Chrome Extensions


In recent years, Latin America (LATAM) has become a favourite target for threat actors, especially those attacking financial organizations. The recent report by Security Intelligence titled "Unveiling the Latest Banking Threats in LATAM," explains the changing scenario of banking Trojans in the region. This blog covers important findings and results of the report, showing the sophisticated techniques used by threat actors and the immediate need for advanced cybersecurity measures.

Malicious Chrome Extension Rising

The top trend concerning the report is the rise in campaigns that involve Chrome extensions. The extensions, often masked as genuine tools, are made to hack into users' browsers and do various activities. After installing, threat actors can hack login credentials, take screenshots, and deploy malicious scripts into web pages. The report stresses that these extensions are specifically dangerous as they can evade traditional security checks and stay hidden for longer periods.

CyberCartel and its Role

The report also sheds light on the notorious activities of the cybercriminal group known as CyberCartel. The group has been associated with various high-profile attacks on financial organizations and government officials in LATAM. CyberCartel works via the Malware-as-a-Service (MaaS) model, offering other threat actors the tools and infrastructure needed to launch sophisticated attacks. This has allowed amateur cybercriminals to give access and contribute to the frequency and severity of attacks.

Attacking High-Profile Entities

CyberCartel's main targets are high-profile entities like government offices and financial institutions. These forms are lucrative targets because of the sensitive info they manage and the possible financial gain for threat actors. The report mentions various incidents where CyberCartel successfully hacked these organizations, causing reputational and financial damage. The group's potential to adjust and develop its techniques makes it a dangerous adversary for cybersecurity experts.

Advanced Tactics and Techniques

One sophisticated technique is using social engineering to fool users into installing malicious software. Cybercriminals make believable phishing emails and fake websites that impersonate genuine institutions. Hackers access their accounts and launch fraudulent transactions once users are tricked into giving their credentials.

Another sophisticated technique is using polymorphic malware, infamous for changing its code to escape detection by antivirus software. This kind of malware is difficult to address as it requires consistent updates to security systems to keep up with changing threat scenarios. 

Read more »
Zimperium zLabs
Banking Trojans Binance Cash App Cyber Attacks Google Play Store User Privacy VPN Zimperium zLabs

Android Trojans are After Financial Apps With Over a Billion Downloads

 

The exploitation of financial apps by trojans has become prevalent, according to a report by Zimperium, a mobile security firm. Trojans are a type of malware that infects users' devices by posing as legitimate and trustworthy programs. The researchers looked at ten separate trojans that are currently active in the open and discovered that they target 639 financial Android apps when combined. 

Once they've infected a device, they leverage Accessibility services to take actions as the user, overlaying login pages on top of authentic banking and finance apps to steal login details, monitoring notifications to capture OTPs, and even carrying out on-device financial fraud. This is particularly concerning because, according to 2021 studies, three out of four Americans use banking applications to conduct their regular financial activities, offering a large target pool for these trojans.

The Google Play Store has slightly over 1 billion downloads of these mobile banking, investment, payment, and cryptocurrency apps combined. PhonePe, which is immensely popular in India and has 100 million downloads on the Play Store, is the targeted application with the most downloads. 

The popular bitcoin exchange software Binance has received 50 million downloads. Cash App is a mobile payment service that is available in the United States and the United Kingdom, with 50 million downloads on Google Play. Even though they don't provide traditional financial services, some banking Trojans target both of these. BBVA, a worldwide online banking platform with tens of millions of downloads, is the most widely marketed application. Seven of the ten most active banking trojans have been found to target this app. 

Additional trojans which were active during the first half of 2021 include the following: 

  • BianLian is a malware that targets Binance, BBVA, and several Turkish apps.
  • Cabassous is after clients from Barclays, CommBank, Halifax, Lloys, and Santander. 
  • Coper may take over accounts from BBVA, Caixa Bank, CommBank, and Santander. 
  • Barclays, Intensa, BancoPosta, and a slew of other Italian apps are among the targets of EventBot. This one uses Microsoft Word or Adobe Flash to hide its true identity. 
  • PayPal, Binance, Cash App, Barclays, BBVA, and CaixaBank may all be affected by the aforementioned Exobot. 
  • FluBot affected BBVA, Caixa, Santander, and several other Spanish apps. 
  • Medusa was a banking app that targeted BBVA, CaixaBank, Ziraat, and Turkish banks. 
  • Binance, BBVA, and Coinbase were all hit by Sharkbot. 
  • PhonePe, Binance, Barclays, Crypto.com, Postepay, Bank of America, Capital One, Citi Mobile, and Coinbase are among the companies targeted by Teabot. 
  • BBVA and a slew of other EU-specific bank apps are among those targeted by Xenomorph. 
The method utilized by these trojans would be that they each have a small target scope and different types of functionality for diverse goals. Because these trojans are concealed among programs available on Android's official app store, users should be cautious and avoid downloading apps from untrustworthy sources. One may take it a step further by using a provider like ExpressVPN.
Read more »
malware
Banking Trojans Emotet Emotet Trojan malware

Botnet Activity Goes Down; Revived Emotet Suffers Hindrances in Operations by A Vigilante Hacker


An anonymous vigilante hacker has been actively involved in obstructing 2019's most widespread cybercrime operation, Emotet that made a comeback recently. He has been sabotaging the malicious affairs and protecting users from getting affected by removing Emotet payloads and inserting animated GIFs at their places. Acting as an intruder, he replaced Emotet payloads with animated GIFs on certain hacked WordPress sites, meaning when victims would open the infected Office files, the malware would not be downloaded and executed on their computers, saving them from the infection.

Emotet is a banking Trojan that was first spotted in the year 2014 by security researchers, it was primarily designed to sneak onto the victim's computer and mine sensitive data. Later, the banking malware was updated; newer versions came up with spamming and malware delivery functionality. Emotet is equipped with capabilities to escape anti-malware detection, it uses worm-like abilities that help it proliferate through connected systems. Mainly, the infection is spread via malspam, however, it may also be sent through malicious scripts, links, or macro-enabled documents.

Started off casually a few days ago, on the 21st of July, the act of sabotaging the operations has become a major concern for the Emotet authors, affecting a significant fragment of the malware botnet’s revived campaign. Essentially, the sabotage has been possible owing to the fact that Emotet authors are not employing the best web shells in the market, it was noted earlier in 2019 also that the criminals involved in Emotet operations were using open-source scripts and identical password for all the web shells, risking the security of its infrastructure and making it vulnerable to hijacks just by a simple guess of password.

While giving insights on the matter, Kevin Beaumont said in 2019, “The Emotet payload distribution method is super insecure, they deploy an open-source webshell off Github into the WordPress sites they hack, all with the same password, so anybody can change the payloads infected PCs are receiving.
Read more »
ransomware attacks
Banking Trojans malware Online fraud Ransomware ransomware attacks

ProLock Ransomware Operators Join Hands with QakBot Trojan to Infect Victims' Networks


'Human-operated ransomware' has been on a rise with the emergence of ProLock in the month of March, the new ransomware came as a successor to 'PwndLocker', another variant of malware targeting all the major industries from finance, retail to healthcare and governmental organizations as well. Notably, in late April, the attack targeting the largest ATM provider in the United States, Diebold Nixdorf was the first major attack carried by ProLock where the attackers only compromised the company's corporate network while their ATMs and customer networks were left untouched, according to the media reports.

In order to acquire access to targets' networks, ProLock has joined hands with financial malware primarily targeting businesses, QakBot. Since its initial online fraud attacks, the banking trojan has constantly evolved to specialize in SOCKS proxy, anti-research capabilities and to effectively steal victims' online banking credentials. The malware has been upgraded so much so that one of its present variants can even incapacitate securing software functioning at the endpoints. Interestingly, the assistance of QakBot that distinguishes the malware from other ransomware operators further strengthens the operations of ProLock as it helps the malware with credential dumping and anti-detection techniques.

ProLock makes use of RDP and QakBot to set the attack into motion, it assists the threat actors in evading detection and with persistence. Researchers told QBot specializes in bypassing detection as it is programmed to check out for its latest version and replace its current version with the newest one. Meanwhile, in order to acquire persistence in the network, the attackers use authentic accounts for RDP. RDP allows the malware to move laterally across networks and accumulate data, which later is exfiltrated through a command-line tool. Side by side, the files are being encrypted by ProLock that adds a .proLock, .pr0Lock or .proL0ck extension to all the encrypted files and leaves a ransom note demanding a ransom in turn for their data. However, as of now, ProLock doesn't have a website to publish victims' stolen data in case they are denied ransom.

“ProLock uses many similar techniques as other ransomware operators to achieve their goals,” said Oleg Skulkin, senior digital forensics analyst at Group-IB in a recent analysis. “At the same time, however, the group does have its own unique approach. With more and more cybercrime groups showing interest in enterprise ransomware deployment campaigns, some operators may be involved in deploying different ransomware families, so we’ll likely see more overlaps in tactics, techniques, and procedures.”
Read more »
Mobile Banking Malware
Banking Trojans Google Play Store Mobile Banking Malware

Rise of a Mobile Banking Malware Which Steals Personal Financial Information



The federal cybersecurity agency cautions about the rise of a new mobile banking malware called "EventBot", which purportedly steal personal financial information and says it might influence Android phone users in India, in a most recent advisory.

The Trojan infection may "masquerade as a legitimate application such as Microsoft Word, Adobe flash and others using third-party application downloading sites to infiltrate into victim device” as per an alert issued by the (CERT-In) Computer Emergency Response Team of India, the national technology arm to combat cyber-attacks and guard the Indian cyberspace.

“It has been observed that a new Android mobile malware named EventBot is spreading. It is a mobile-banking Trojan and info-stealer that abuses Android's in-built accessibility feature to steal user data from financial applications, read user SMS messages and intercept SMS messages, allowing malware to bypass two-factor authentication," said the CERT-In warning.

As indicated by the CERT-In the virus "to a great extent target financial apps like PayPal Business, Revolut, Barclays, UniCredit, CapitalOne UK, HSBC UK, TransferWise, Coinbase, paysafecard and so on"

The agency said while "EventBot" has not been "seen" on Google Playstore till now, it can "masquerade" as a certified mobile phone application.

The virus further prompts the users to offer access to their device accessibility services. The advisory claimed that the virus is equipped for recovering notifications about other installed applications and read the contents of various applications.

Over time, it can also read Lock Screen and in-app PIN that can give the attacker more privileged access over victim device,"

The cybersecurity agency has proposed certain counter-measures to check the virus infection within the Android phones: "Do not download and install applications from untrusted sources like unknown websites and links on unscrupulous messages; install updated anti-virus solution; prior to downloading or installing apps even from Google Playstore), always review the app details, number of downloads, user reviews, comments and the 'additional information' section”

Lastly, it requested that users abstain from utilizing unsecured, unknown Wi-Fi systems, and for prior affirming of a banking/financial application from the source organization.
Read more »
Spyware
Banking Trojans Cyber Security phishing Phishing Attacks Spyware

The lifespan of Phishing Attacks Recorded a Tremendous Growth in H2 2019


Phishing attacks recorded a remarkable surge in H2 2019, the growth has been alarming with the number of phishing websites blockages soaring by 230 percent per year. Earlier, phishers would terminate the fraudulent campaign once their webpages were blocked, however, now they are immediately mobilizing the phishing attack onto other brands. It serves as the main reason as to why the number grew so rampantly.

As the lifespan of phishing attacks increased tremendously, attackers became specific about their target pool and have increasingly targeted online services and cloud storage providers, the primary reason being the huge chunks of sensitive data stored in them that can be downloaded by the attackers to later threaten the victims for a ransom.

Turning towards a diligent attacking method, phishers have improved upon the ways they choose their campaigns and targets – preferring quantity over quality. Client software, e-commerce, online streaming, and delivery services were some online services that contributed to 29.3 percent of the phishers' targets, cloud storages amounted to 25.4 percent while financial organizations made for a total of 17.6 percent, as per the statistics for the last year.

While spotting and preventing the distribution of threats online, a total of 8,506 phishing web resources were blocked by Group-IB's Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-GIB).

While providing insights on the matter to Help Net Security, Yaroslav Kargalev, CERT-GIB deputy head said, “Several years ago, creators of phishing pages were likely to have some technical background, they created phishing pages, putting much effort into the launch of their campaigns, preventing them from being detected and relentlessly supporting their sustainability....”

“This industry has changed its face — those pioneers no longer create phishing pages, they create tools for operators of web phishing campaigns who do not necessarily have any programming skills, and last year became the culmination of this trend. Since this new generation of phishers is not that experienced in maintaining the web resources viable, the phishing community’s focus has shifted toward the number of scam resources,” he added.

Banking Trojans and cryptocurrency projects have seen a steep decline in their preference amongst cybercriminals. As the functionality of backdoors has continued to expand, spyware and backdoors have stolen the show to reach the number one spot in the popularity rankings with a whopping 35 percent share.
Read more »
malware
Banking Malware Banking Trojans Email Spoofing malware

Banking Trojan 'Metamorfo' Now Targeting Online Users' Banking Services


Online banking users are being targeted by a trojan malware campaign going around the globe with the agenda of gaining illegal access to personal information such as credit card details and other sensitive data of users.

The banking trojan which has successfully affected more than 20 online banks goes by the name 'Metamorfo'. Several countries fell prey to the banking trojan including the US, Spain, Peru, Canada, Chile, Mexico, and Ecuador. Reportedly, earlier the attack was limited to Brazil-based banks only, however, the recent times witnessed a rapid increase in the number of these attacks; now encompassing other countries, according to the cybersecurity researchers at Fortinet.

In order to multiply their opportunities for financial gains, Cybercriminals have continued to resort to banking trojans and have refined the apparatus of the malware – in ways that make detection complicated. The latest research indicates that earlier the targeting was limited to the banking sector only but now as the leading banking trojans have expanded their reach, industries other than banking are also vulnerable to the attacks. The likely targets include cloud service providers, online tech stores, warehousing, mobile app stores, and e-commerce, according to the latest findings.

Metamorfo relies on email spoofing to set the attack into motion, it appears to contain information regarding an invoice and directs the victims to download a .ZIP file. As soon as the targeted user downloads and finishes the extraction of the file, it tends to allow Metamorfo to run on a Windows system. After the installation is completed, the malware starts running an Autolt script execution program. Although the scripting language is primarily designed for automating the Windows graphical UI, here the malware employs it to bypass the antivirus detection.

While explaining the functioning of the malware, ZDnet told, "Once running on the compromised Windows system, Metamorfo terminates any running browsers and then prevents any new browser windows from using auto-complete and auto-suggest in data entry fields.

"This prevents the user from using auto-complete functions to enter usernames, passwords, and other information, allowing the malware's keylogger functionality to collect the data the users are thus obliged to retype. It then sends that data back to a command-and-control server run by the attackers."

There are no revelations made about the keywords related to the targeted banks and other financial institutions, however, researchers expect the Metamorfo campaign still being active. To stay on a safer side, users are advised to keep their operating systems and software updated and patched timely.
Read more »
malware
Banking Trojans Financial Sector malware

Banking Trojen rises as the Top Security Concern


According to a new research by Blueliv, banking trojans have risen as the biggest threat to the Financial sector second only to mobile malware. A twitter poll conducted by cyberthreat intelligence provider Blueliv, from 11,000 users revealed that a third of respondents were concerned about the impact banking Trojans (31 percent) and mobile malware (28 percent) will have on financial services organizations and their customers in 2020. Tracking these financial threats, Blueliv researchers observed an increase in Trickbot banking trojan (283%) and a 130% increase in Dridex botnets. These Q2 and Q3 botnets are believed to be distributing banking trojans and malware in the financial sector and their customers.


Skill shortage and lack of visibility of threats present as security challenge- According to the poll, the financial sector is suffering from a major skill shortage in building security programs and identifying security threats - the most pressing being a shortage of skills (28 percent), followed by the high volume of threats and alerts (26 percent) and a lack of visibility into cyber threats (20 percent) (by Blueliv). Realwire quotes, "This is hardly surprising: as financial services institutions (FSIs) embrace digital processes and new customer interaction channels, so their attack surface grows, making it harder to keep on top of threats ranging from Point-of-Sale (PoS) to ATM malware, mobile apps malware to card skimmers."

A recent data by (ISC)2 shows that the global skills shortage has crossed 4 million. In Europe alone, the shortage has bypassed 100 percent. Daniel Solís, CEO and founder, Blueliv says, “Organizations in the financial sector face a constantly changing threat landscape. Business priorities have shifted and digital risk management is now central. Because they are such high-value targets for cybercriminal activity, it is imperative that financial services organizations monitor what is happening both inside and outside their networks in real-time to create effective mitigation strategies before, during and after an attack.”

He further commented, “FSI (financial services institutions) security teams can be easily overwhelmed by the number of threat alerts they receive which can very quickly result in alert fatigue and desensitization to real, preventable threats. Threat intelligence can address the cyber skills gap through continuous automated monitoring combined with the human resource to provide context, helping FSIs develop highly-targeted threat detection, prevention, and investigation capabilities.”

Financial organizations are prime suspects for attacks, even after having the most sophisticated cyber defense strategies, weak spots do remain and are being exploited by trojans and malware overlooked by fraud risk assessment teams due to skills shortage and poor threat visibility.
Read more »
Trojan
Banking Trojans malware Trojan

Vulnerability found in Android Phones exploited by bank thieves through malicious apps


Researchers from security firm Promon, found a vulnerability in millions of fully patched Android phones, that's being exploited by malware through malicious apps designed to drain the user's bank account. The vulnerability is exploited by 36 apps, including bank trojans. These apps masquerade as legitimate apps already installed by the user posing on it or inside it, say the researchers. As the user already trusts these apps, after installing these then ask for permissions like recording audio or video, taking photos, reading text messages or phishing login credentials.



Victims who click yes, fall prey to the scam. Lookout and Promon, researchers reported on Monday that they found 36 apps exploiting the spoofing vulnerability. This includes BankBot banking trojan, which's been active since 2017 and apps from this malware have been caught on Google Play repeatedly. And the only way the users can protect themselves is by clicking 'no' to the permissions. TaskAffinity is the function in Android where this vulnerability occurs that lets the app disguise as other app and work in the multitasking environment. Using this the malicious app is placed inside or top of the target. "Thus the malicious activity hijacks the target's task," Promon researchers wrote.

"The next time the target app is launched from Launcher, the hijacked task will be brought to the front and the malicious activity will be visible. The malicious app then only needs to appear like the target app to successfully launch sophisticated attacks against the user. It is possible to hijack such a task before the target app has even been installed." Promon is calling the vulnerability, "StrandHogg," neither promon nor lookout has revealed the apps but Google has removed these apps from their market.

Still, the vulnerability remains a problem in Android. Google representatives said, "We appreciate the researchers['] work, and have suspended the potentially harmful apps they identified. Google Play Protect detects and blocks malicious apps, including ones using this technique. Additionally, we're continuing to investigate to improve Google Play Protect's ability to protect users against similar issues."
Read more »
Trojan
Bank Banking fraud Banking Malware Banking Trojans malware Trojan

Trickbot Trojan Gets 'BokBot' Proxy Module to Steal Banking Info.




In 2017, IBM's X-Force team discovered a banking trojan named as 'BokBot', which redirects users to malicious online banking websites or can link victims to a browser procedure in order to insert unauthorized content onto official bank pages, it's also known as IcedID.

The authors of Trickbot trojan have begun to distribute a custom proxy module to the users; Trickbot trojan is a new component originated from BokBot's code for web injection, it works with some of the widely used web browsers.

The new variant came with its separate configuration file, it was detected on an infected system on 5th of July as "shadnewDll".

How does the malware work?

The malicious process begins with an infected Office Word document that downloads the Ursnif trojan after deploying a PowerShell script. Then, a Trickbot version along with the IcedID proxy module is received by the compromised host, it is programmed to intercept and modify web traffic.

After examining the component, Vitali Kremez, security researcher, said that it can be attached to the following web browsers: Microsoft Edge, Mozilla Firefox, Internet Explorer and Google Chrome.

Upon further inspection, the module appeared to be particularly adapted for TrickBot or other fraud bank operations which is based on the installion of this malware and its variants.

Referencing from the research of FireEye, "The TrickBot administrator group, which is suspected to be based in Eastern Europe, most likely provide the malware to a limited number of cyber criminal actors to use in operations." 
Read more »
Google
Android Android devices Backdoors Banking Trojans Forbes Google

Many Android devices had pre-installed backdoor: Google

Earlier this year, Forbes reported how a banking Trojan called Triada had been found on a bunch of brand new budget Android smartphones. Google has now confirmed that threat actors did, indeed, manage to compromise Android smartphones with the installation of a backdoor as part of a supply chain attack.

Two years later, on Thursday, Google has now admitted that criminals in 2017 indeed managed to get an advanced backdoor preinstalled on Android devices, even before these left the factories of manufacturers.

The list of affected devices includes Leagoo M5 Plus, Leagoo M8, Nomu S10 and Nomu S20.

To understand what has happened here, we need to go back to 2016 when Kaspersky Lab researchers first uncovered what they called one of the most advanced mobile Trojans Kaspersky malware analysts had ever seen. They named that Trojan "Triada" and explained how it existed mainly in the smartphone's random access memory (RAM) using root privileges to replace system files with malicious ones. Android phones were spotted to have Triada as a preloaded backdoor in 2017.

The firm, Dr. Web’s, researchers had found Triada embedded into one of the OS libraries and located in the system section. Not just that, the Trojan couldn’t be detected or deleted using standard methods.

Triada had, the researchers found, used a call in the Android framework log function instead. In other words, the infected devices had a backdoor installed. This meant that every time an app, any app, attempted to log something the function was called and that backdoor code executed. The Triada Trojan could now execute code in pretty much any app context courtesy of this backdoor; a backdoor that came factory-fitted.

The Mountain View, California-headquartered company initially removed Triada samples from all Android devices using Google Play Protect. But in 2017, it was found that Triada evolved and ultimately became a preloaded backdoor on Android devices. Notably, the latest phones aren't likely to be affected by what has been discovered by Google. The vulnerability did have an impact on various models in the past, though.
Read more »
Trojan
Bank Information Security Banking Trojans Credit Card Theft Emotet Trojan malware Trojan

Emotet trojan one of the biggest malware

Emotet is a banking Trojan that started out stealing information from individuals, like credit card details. It has been lurking around since 2014 and has evolved tremendously over the years, becoming major threat that infiltrates corporate networks and spreads other strains of malware.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security published an alert on Emotet in July 2018, describing it as “an advanced, modular banking Trojan that primarily functions as a downloader or dropper of other banking Trojans,” and warning that it’s very difficult to combat, capable of evading typical signature-based detection, and determined to spread itself. The alert explains that “Emotet infections have cost SLTT (state, local, tribal, and territorial) governments up to $1 million per incident to remediate.”

Emotet poses a grave risk for individuals and businesses of all sizes. Here's a look at what you can do to safeguard your business against this pernicious Trojan malware.

Emotet infections typically start with a simple phishing email that contains an attachment or a link to download a file. The recipient is persuaded to click the link or open the file and they unwittingly set in motion a macro that downloads a malicious payload. As soon as the device is infected, Emotet starts trying to spread to other devices on the network.

The addition of new capabilities into Emotet, inspired by other successful malware such as WannaCry, has made it a much more potent threat capable of moving laterally and infecting entire networks alarmingly quickly. It’s a modular Trojan that’s often employed as the vanguard of a bigger attack, piercing the outer defenses and then downloading other banking Trojans and spreading them around.

As persistent and pernicious as Emotet is, you can take effective action to guard against it.

First, ensure that you don’t have unsecured devices on your network. Take steps to identify and secure unmanaged devices. Eradicate potential blind spots like internet of things devices. Even if Emotet appears to be confined to an unsecured machine, the threat has not been neutralized because it’s polymorphic, constantly updating itself and working towards spreading further. Given enough time, it has a good chance of finding a weakness in your defenses that can be exploited.
Read more »
Google Play Store
Android Malware Banking Trojans cybercriminals Google Play Store

Anubis Malware Re-Emerges Yet Again; Hackers Distributing It via Google Play Store





The Anubis banking malware arises once more with the threat actors allocating the malware on Google Play store applications keeping in mind the end goal to steal login credentials to banking apps, e-wallets, and payment cards.

Hackers are constantly known for finding better approaches to sidestep the Google play store security as well as ways to distribute the malware through Android applications that will additionally go about as the initial phase in an "infection routine" schedule that gets the BankBot Anubis mobile banking Trojans by means of C&C server.

Users as often as possible get tainted once they download and install the malevolent applications via the Google play store, despite the fact that the play store security investigates , all the applications that are transferred into Google Play, cybercriminals dependably execute the most complex and obscure strategies to evade the detection.

Researchers as of late discovered anew downloader’s in-app store that connected with Anubis banking malware. This campaign is known to contain no less than 10 malevolent downloaders masked as different applications. All the Downloader disseminated through Android applications is known to get in excess of 1,000 samples from the criminal's command-and-control (C&C) servers.

“In most Android banking Trojans, the malware launches a fake overlay screen when the user accesses a target app. The user then taps his or her account credentials into the fake overlay, which allows the malware to steal the data. BankBot Anubis streamlines this process.”

Cyber criminals transferring applications into Google play store influence it to resemble a live authentic one; they compromise the clients by controlling them to trust that they are giving an "expertise" as a service.

The researchers likewise found that these malignant play store applications that acted like the authentic ones, for the most part focus on the Turkish-speaking clients and the downloader applications in this specific crusade were intended to address Turkish clients just with a couple of various botnets and configurations.

All these applications are transferred to various categories, for example, online shopping to money related services and even an automotive app.

As indicated by an analysis by the X-Force, the adjustments in the downloader application propose that it is being kept up on a progressing premise, another sign that it is a ware offered to cybercriminals or a particular gathering that is centered on swindling particularly the Turkish mobile banking users.

Once the noxious downloader is effectively installed into the victims Android then the app brings BankBot Anubis from one of its C&C servers. The BankBot Anubis malware forces clients to concede the consent by acting like an application called "Google Protect." 

This accessibility will go about as a keylogger getting the infected user's credentials from infected users mobile.

BankBot Anubis is known to target users in numerous nations also for example, Australia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Brazil, Canada, China, Czech Republic, France, Georgia, Germany, Hong Kong, India, Ireland, Israel, Japan Kazakhstan, Spain, Taiwan, Turkey, U.K. as well as U.S.

Read more »
Mobile Application Hacking.
Android Malware Banking Trojans Mobile Application Hacking.

Quick Heal detects 2 banking Trojans targeting Indian Android users


IT company Quick Heal on Tuesday warned that two new banking trojans (malware designed to steal financial data) targeting Android are hitting users in India to access confidential data.

The Trojans, named “Android.Marcher.C" and "Android.Asacub.T", operate by exploiting user behaviour of android mobile users and imitating notifications from leading banking and finance apps in India as well as popular social apps such as WhatsApp, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Skype.

The trojans mask themselves by using misleading icons and names to trick users. “Android.Marcher.C" uses a fake Adobe Flash Player icon and "Android.Asacub.T" mimics an android update icon and the name “update”.

The malwares work by forcing the users into allowing special privileges to the app by clicking “Activate” after it is installed in the device.

Image credits: Quick Heal
Once the malware has this access, it is able to trick sensitive information from the user such as banking credentials, passwords, card details, etc. whenever the user opens one of the apps the trojan is designed to imitate. This is done by displaying a fake window asking for the credit/debit card number of the user without which, the user is unable to access the app.

Sanjay Katkar, Co-founder and CTO of Quick Heal Technologies Limited, said, "Indian users often download unverified apps from third-party app stores and links sent through SMS and email. This gives hackers a lucrative opportunity to steal confidential information from unsuspecting users."

He also said the company has detected three other similar malware in less than six months and that it seems like hackers are now targeting mobile users as they are “far more vulnerable to sophisticated phishing attacks”.

Android users are advised to practice caution when downloading apps and to only download them from trusted sources. Always verify app permissions and install a reliable mobile security app.

Read more »
Trojan infection
Android Malware Banking Trojans Fake Apps FakeBank Trojan infection

Android Malware intercepts bank calls and redirects to scammers

There is a new version of the creative FakeBank Android malware that intercepts victims’ calls to their banks and redirects them to scammers.

The trojan is one of the most creative android malware threatening the market. FakeBank operates by fooling customers using fake login screens inserted on top of legitimate banking apps.

The innovative new version not only lets scammers intercept banking calls made by customers by switching the dialed number with a special one pre-configured in the configuration file, but also enables them to actually make calls to customers using a special number, which will come up on users’ screen as if their bank is calling them.

This lets these scammers fool customers into giving away their banking information whenever they want it.

This new variant is allegedly only active in South Korea at the moment, according to a report by Symantec researchers, who have discovered the trojan in 22 apps so far via social media links and third-party app stores, targeting Korean bank clients.

In the past, the trojan has been able to whitelist its process to remain active while the users’ phone was in sleep mode and has also used TeamViewer to grant attackers full access to the device.
Read more »
Flash Exploits
Android Malware Banking Trojans Cyber Crime Flash Exploits

Android Malware Attacking Over 232 Banking Apps Discovered

A new Android malware is reportedly targeting over 232 banking applications, including a few banks in India. This was discovered by the internet and cybersecurity firm Quick Heal, which identified the Android Banking Trojan imitating banking mobile apps around the world.

It includes major Indian banks apps from SBI, HDFC, ICICI, IDBI, and Axis, among others.

What is the malware?

The Trojan malware, named ‘Android.banker.A9480’, is being used to steal personal data such as login data, messages, contact lists, etc. from users and uploading it to a malicious server.

This malware also targets cryptocurrency apps installed on users’ phones to extract similar sensitive data.

Who has it affected?

According to Quick Heal, the banks affected by the malware include Axis mobile, HDFC Bank Mobile Banking, SBI Anywhere Personal, HDFC Bank Mobile Banking LITE, iMobile by ICICI Bank, IDBI Bank GO Mobile+, Abhay by IDBI Bank Ltd, IDBI Bank GO Mobile, IDBI Bank mPassbook, Baroda mPassbook, Union Bank Mobile Banking, and Union Bank Commercial Clients.

The full list can be found on Quick Heal’s original blog post.

How does the malware work?

The security firm has revealed that the malware is being distributed through a fake Flash Player app on third-party stores.

“This is not surprising given that Adobe Flash is one of the most widely distributed products on the Internet. Because of its popularity and global install base, it is often targeted by attackers,” the firm said in a statement.

Once the malicious app is installed, it will ask the user to activate administrative rights. The app sends continuous pop-ups until the user activates the admin privilege, even if the user denies the request or kills the process. Once activated, the malicious app hides its icon soon after the user taps on it.

They also revealed that if any of the targeted apps are found on the infected device, the app shows a fake notification on behalf of the targeted banking app. If the user clicks on the notification, they are shown a fake login screen to steal the user’s confidential info like net banking login ID and password.

Since the malware is able to intercept incoming and outgoing SMS from an infected smartphone, it can bypass the OTP based two-factor authentication on the user’s bank account and can misuse the access.

How can users protect their data?

It should be noted that Adobe Flash player has been discontinued after Android 4.1 version as the player comes integrated with the mobile browser itself. There is no official Adobe Flash Player available on the Google Play Store. Adobe had also announced that it will stop updating and distributing Flash player by the end of 2020 in all formats of the browser.

To stay safe from this trojan, users should take care to download only verified apps and avoid third-party apps or links provided in SMS or emails. Users should also keep the “Unknown Sources” option disabled in the settings (Settings > Security > Unknown Sources).

Additionally, users are advised to install a trusted mobile security app that can detect and block fake and malicious apps before they can infect their device.

It is also strongly advised to always keep the device OS and mobile security apps up-to-date as per official instructions.

Read more »
Malware Report
Android Malware Banking Trojans Malware Report

Dangerous Android malware steals money from Your Bank


Researchers from Doctor web security have identified a banking trojan called Android.BankBot.65.origin which has been specially created for Android devices.

Cyber criminals are adding the malicious code with the legitimate online banking applications and planting them in various third-party android markets and other websites.

"Due to the fact that a compromised application looks and operates as a legitimate one, potential victims are very likely to install it on their mobile devices."  After that the Trojan starts accessing the system information and do nasty stuff.

After the installation of malicious software Android.BankBot.65.origin generates special kind of configuration file containing operating parameters for the Trojan. The trojan usually receive commands from host server and then exploit all the device vulnerability causing cyber criminals to steal money by intercepting and modifying SMS.

It may intercept incoming SMS messages and send texts to numbers listed by cyber criminals. It can add various texts to the list of incoming SMS messages. Using these methods, cyber criminals steal money from users' bank accounts by sending messages to transfer money from the victim's account to the account of cyber criminals or by intercepting messages containing verification codes or by implementing other fraudulent methods .

Messages like “pre-approved Credit card asking personal information” are example of fraudulent schemes which may lead user to fall into trap and they may share their banking credentials which leads to online banking stealing . And Thus its important to download mobile banking applications from authentic sources only .
Read more »
Malware Report
Banking Trojans Malware Report

New malware in online banking causes problem in Japan


A new online banking malware, which was found in Operation Emmental, has now been causing problems in Japan.

TROJ_WERDLOD, a new detected malware, has been causing problems in the country since December 2014. More than 400 systems were affected by the new malware.

According to Hitomi Kimura, a security specialist at TrendMicro, the malware can change two settings which allow information theft at the network level.

It does not require a reboot or any memory-resident processes on the affected systems.

Kimura wrote on a blog that one of settings gets modifies in the system’s proxy settings. The attackers controls the way from Internet traffic to a proxy. And the second is the additional malicious root certificate to the system’s trusted root store. It allows malicious site certificates which are added in man-in-the-middle attacks to be used without triggering alerts or error messages.

He wrote that the TROJ_WERDLOD harms users via spam mails with an attached .RTF document. The document said to be an invoice or bill from an online shopping site. If anyone opens the .RTF file, the user gets instruction to double-click the icon in the document in order to execute the TROJ_WERDLOD in the system.
Spam mail which leads to TROJ_WERDLOD. Photo Courtesy:TrendMicro

According to him, the hackers used a fake certificate and proxy in Operation Emmental. They also used fake mobile apps in order to steal SMS messages from online banks. It seems that the same behavior may be seen in the future in Japan, although Japanese banks rarely use SMS authentication.

Kimura suggested that in order to restore an infected PC to its normal condition, the following steps should be taken:
-        1. Remove the proxy automatic setting in Windows and Firefox and if anyone has an option provided by the ISP and/or system administrator, he/she can change it back to the previous setting.
-        
           2. Remove the malicious root certificate installed by TROJ_WERDLOD which was stored in Windows and Firefox. This malicious root certificate has the following signature:
·         A134D31B 881A6C20 02308473 325950EE 928B34CD
Read more »
Spear Phishing attacks
Banking Trojans malware Social Engineering Attack Spear Phishing attacks

The Dyre Wolf of cyber street is after your money


The Dyre malware affecting the corporate banking sector has successfully stolen upwards of million dollars from unsuspecting companies since its inception in mid-2014, according to IBM's Security Intelligence report.

In a span of seven months the global infection rate has shot up from 500 to more than 4000 with North America being the most affected region.

While such a threat is not new to the banking sector what sets Dyre apart is its wealth of features that combines Spear phishing, malware (initial infection via Upatre), social engineering, complex process injections, the Deep Web and even Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) alongside the constant updates that makes its detection tough.

The malware works in multiple steps.

Spear phishing: An organization  is as strong as its weakest link. Dyre uses this adage to the full as it targets employees of an organization with mails that contains the malware delivered in a zip file. Unsuspecting employees might download the zip file having a scr or an exe file which is actually the  malware known as Upatre (pronounced like “up a tree”), which begins the initial infection of the target machine.

First Stage Malware: Upatre then establishes contact with the Control and Command servers and downloads and installs Dyre to the system and deletes itself.

Second Stage Malware: Dyre establishes persistence in the system and connects to nodes at Invisible Internet Project that would enable it to communicate information without revealing destination or content.It also sends emails to victim's contact list aiming to increase its list of potential victims.It then hooks to the victim's browsers to intercept log in credentials by routing them to fake pages when the victim tries to visit web sites of the targeted bank.

Advanced Social Engineering: Social engineering is the alarming aspect of Dyre Wolf campaign. In addition to providing fake pages to extract log in data from individuals, it can at times display a message to the consumer asking them to call the bank at a specified number. Dyre wolf operators at the other end of the line act professionally and extract information under the guise of verification. This is done to circumvent bank's two stage authentication processes.

Wire Transfer and DDoS: After obtaining credentials, they log into the accounts and request for wire transfer of large sums. The money is moved from account to account quickly to make tracing and reversal impossible. Following this the affected consumer faces DDoS from the bank pages which hinders detection and investigation.

Dyre is operated by a highly organized and well funded group of cyber criminals in Eastern Europe.

The only way to prevent this seems to be to avoid the first infection of the system arising from a vulnerable employee. Employees need to be trained well on regarding such malwares, spear-phishing campaigns. Other preventive measures include stripping executables from email attachments, preventing installation from temp folders, using updated anti-virus, two factor authentications etc.
Read more »
TOR
Banking Trojans Hacking News password stealing trojans TOR

Banking Trojan Vawtrak

Banking Trojan Vawtrak (aka Neverquest or Snifula) which additionally uses the Pony module to steal wide range of log-in credentials has been proliferating rapidly over the last few months

 USA, Germany, UK, Czech Republic are the  top  affected countries this year.

While Trojans like this are not new, what makes it remarkable is the  the multi-layered concealing processes and wide range of functions it can execute.

The Vawtrak Trojkan spreads via drive-by download – in the form of spam email attachments or links to compromised sites or  through malware downloaders such as Zemot or Chaintor or through exploit kits like Angler.

Tracking the Trojan  Vawtrak, AVG has revealed a detailed analysis of its installation and functionality.

Installation
The trojan was delivered through a spam email from Amazon which contained link to a zip archive stored on a compromised Wordpress site. The delivered file which actually was a executable tried to simultaneously look as  a pdf and a screen saver. It then installed itself into the system and ensured persistence by enabling auto-execution  Windows start-up. Without causing visible changes in the system, it then dropped the DLL into the program folder and deleted its original version.

This shorter second DLL decrypts its payload, which looks like  a normal Windows exe file but is a compressed file. The decompressed file replaces the second DLL and extracts the final module in a compressed format which further contains another two DLL files. The appropriate DLL then executes Vawtrak's main functionality.

Functionality
Once executed, Vawtrak disables antivirus protection of almost all known anti-viruses, steals multiple passwords from browsers (even obscure browsers such as K-Meleon or Flock) or applications, steals browser history, modifies browser settings, logs keystrokes, takes screenshots or records user actions on desktop, enables remote access to victim's system.

Further it communicates with remote Control & Command servers, executing commands from a remote server, sending stolen information, downloading new versions of itself and web-injection frameworks.
One fascinating feature is that it can connect to the update servers  hosted on the Tor hidden Web services via a Tor2web proxy without installing any special software such as Tor browser. Moreover, the communication with the remote server is done over SSL, which adds further encryption. Due to the use of steganography, the user remains totally ignorant of the working and updation of the Trojan.

Vawtrak is not as advanced as some others but its actions are too aggressive and they may cause stability or performance issues in the infected machines.

Staying vigilant about online phishing and scams is the most efficient way of avoiding Vawtrak but as it may still find its way, even without a user's direct interaction. So having an efficient and updated antivirus solution is of utmost importance.

For full analysis of the Trojan, read the complete report by AVG.
Read more »
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)