With the growth in popularity of online banking services, the theft of banking information has become one of the most common types of criminal activity on the Internet.
In addition to stealing access codes for personal bank accounts – and corporate bank accounts – cybercriminals also steal the numbers of credit cards and other types of payment cards.
This is according to Derick Roberts, CEO of TruTeq Devices.
Criminals use a number of techniques to gain access to banking information – and then steal funds.
One of the ways to do this is to set up fake Web site windows. This methodology makes use of Trojan horses which can attack a victim’s computer and display a dialogue window or image on each user’s computer.
The window will mimic the appearance of the user’s bank’s Web site – and will ask the user to enter their username and password. Users must be very careful before blindly clicking on these links. Banks are unlikely, for instance, to use this kind of method to contact their clients.
The watchword is: be careful before clicking.
Another methodology is spam and phising.
“Phishing e-mails may look like they come from the user’s bank – asking for confirmation of the victim’s username and password. To persuade the victim to enter their personal data, the e-mails often state that users that don’t enter the required information will have access to their account suspended. This criminal method is being used increasingly,” says Roberts. “And an alarmingly high number of people fall for it.”
Another “trick” is what a keylogger Trojan. These keyboard spying programs will monitor activity on the victim’s computer and wait for the user to connect to an actual banking Web site. It acts like a veritable spider in a Web.
As soon as the user accesses a banking Web site – that is on the Trojan’s list of bank sites – the Trojan virus will immediately begin to capture the keystrokes that the user types on their keyboard. This enables the cybercriminal to steal data – including login, username and password. This, in turn, allows the criminal to access the user’s account … and transfer funds.
“There are some companies out there providing solutions to these maladies – and consumers should make sure they investigate the various solutions. Because even large companies – even large financial institutions – are at threat,” says Roberts.
