Panda Security: money transactions under risk

30th December 2008

Panda Security held a check up of more than 300 companies engaged in international money transfers. They investigated more than 1500 computers, and the results were alarming: 30% of them were equipped with outdated antivirus, while 60% were infected.
According to the Bureau of Immigration Support of the United States, in 2007 immigrants sent home more than 126000 million dollars.
Computers not protected properly and frequently used for extraneous purposes (chats, downloading files, etc.) can not guarantee security during the online money transactions. This security gap allows criminals to intercept money transfers using the following principle:
Attackers install a trojan/keylogger to a victim`s computer, capable of capturing form the screen such information as account numbers, bank details, PIN-codes etc.
The planned phishing attack allegedly comes from one of the most prominent organizations involved in money transfers. As a result of these attacks, bank data of the sender may be intercepted by cyber-criminals, and in this case, open access to the accounts of victims is be provided.