Zeus Trojan Malware Exploits Visa and Mastercard Security Programs

A latest version of Zeus Trojan malware has recently been targeting American banking customers by using spoofed credit protection enrolment computer programs and stealing relevant financial information from anyone who enrols in the said fake programs.

This malware, also known as the Zbot, have started its attack last week, and has left approximately fifteen (15) online baking sites including credit card giants MasterCard and Visa. This latest version dupes banking customers to give their credit card data by using a phishing page with logos of the “Verified by Visa” and the “MasterCard SecureCode Security” enrolment programs, according to internet security firm Trusteer. Trusteer also pointed out that this malware would look legitimate because it makes use of the MasterCard and Visa online fraud prevention programs to make it appear so.

This phishing page would appear if the bank customer were to log in to one of the fifteen online banking sites that have been affected, then would state that recently changed FDIC rules requires that the customer must be enrolled in either of the two mentioned programs to have better credit account protection. The phishing page would then ask the customer to type in his or her credit card number, expiration date, Social Security number, PIN code, and a chosen password that needs to be inputted in twice.

Using this phishing page, hackers and cybercriminals would be able to get all the relevant financial information they need to commit credit card frauds and unauthorized online transactions using their victims’ own credit accounts. And there are already many different cybercriminal gangs that run and distribute their own versions of the malware.

The notorious ZeuS Trojan or Zbot, is a constantly morphing piece of malware that is not only sophisticated but also difficult to remove even when detected The ZeuS Trojan occupies about 50, 000 bytes in an infected Windows computer unit, and it is specifically designed to target credit accounts in the United Kingdom and Northern America using the victim’s computer unit. It has been around since 2007 when it was just a spyware Trojan and it became popular when botnets flourished some time afterwards.

Another thing that makes this malware’s latest version a more serious threat is that it also comes with a remote control function that could be used to completely take control of an infected computer unit. And it also could also affect computers that even have up-to-date and active antivirus protection, as found by Trusteer when their research showed that more than half of affected computers (55%) have such protection. Trusteer also pointed out in their research data that there are ZeuS infections in one out of one hundred computers amongst the three million units in the United Kingdom and North America.

Banking customers whom believe that this malware have shown up in their computers are advised to contact their banks and do whatever they could to disinfect their compute units.