New Trojan targets Australian business bankers

RSA Data Security believes the Trojan attacking Australian banks to be the work of the Rock Phish Gang, a group of cybercriminals responsible for a myriad of phishing scams and who thrive on innovative attacks. Customers receive an e-mail claiming to be from their bank and are asked to download a “certificate” under the guise of a security update. The certificate contains a Trojan that proceeds to launch a multi-staged attack, looking for not just usernames and passwords, but chat room credentials, secure downloads, and anything the attackers believe may be useful. “The attackers are targeting the top sectors of banking customers, so they can find much more secure information than they would with retail customers,” said Geoff Noble, RSA’s Banking and Finance Specialist. The nature of these customers’ information warrants a higher level of security, which may actually be what makes them the prime targets for these attacks. “Banks are educating more at the lower end, with retail customers, not with these corporate bankers” Noble said. “Business bankers typically have more authentications and are more likely to download an executable like this. These attackers are using security as an enabler, and trying to prey on market sector that isn’t as well educated.”

Noble says Australian banks are being increasingly targeted for these kinds of scams, jumping from 4 to 6 percent of worldwide scams over the past ten months. For now, RSA is attempting to limit some of the potential damage caused by this Trojan amongst banks and customers worldwide. “We’re helping with remediation, the more we find out, the quicker we can respond and shut down these links to the ‘mothership’ of the Rock Phish Gang,” said Noble. “You’re not always going to protect banks against first attack, but if can see the diagnostics, we can help other banks against future attacks.”