36 million euro stolen from banking customers in Europe
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Eurograbber malware has been abused to steal over 36 million euro from banking customers across Europe, Check Point Software Technologies Ltd and Versafe have found.
Check Point, a global leader in securing the Internet, and Versafe, a private and independent vendor of online fraud prevention solutions, have published “A Case Study of Eurograbber: How 36 million was stolen via malware”.
The two firms announced that the case study uncovers a highly sophisticated attack used to steal millions from corporate and private banking customers across Europe.
Eurograbber was launched against banking customers, using a sophisticated combination of malware directed at computers and mobile devices.
The malware, in conjunction with the attackers’ command and control server, first infected the victims’ computers, and then, infected their mobile devices in order to intercept SMS messages to bypass the banks’ two-factor authentication process.
With the stolen information and the transaction authentication number (TAN), the attackers then performed automatic transfers of funds ranging between 500 euro and 250,000 euro, from the victims’ accounts to mule accounts across Europe.
The case study has the following key findings:
- An estimated 36 million euro has been stolen from more than 30,000 corporate and private bank accounts.
- The attacks originated in Italy, but quickly spread to Germany, Holland, and Spain.
- The theft involved a sophisticated combination of malware directed at computers and mobile devices of banking customers.
- A new and very successful iteration of a bot attack (the Zeus Trojan) was used in the widespread Eurograbber attack.
- Android and Blackberry mobile devices were specifically targeted, showing that attacks against Android devices are a growing trend.
“Cyberattacks are constantly evolving to take advantage of the latest trends. As online and mobile banking continue to grow, we will see more targeted attacks in this area, and Eurograbber is a prime example,” said Gabi Reish, Head of Product Management at Check Point Software Technologies.
“The best way to prevent these attacks is with a multi-layered security solution that spans network, data, and endpoints, powered by real time threat intelligence.”
Eran Kalige, Head of Security Operation Center, Versafe, said cyberattacks have become more sophisticated, more creative, and more targeted.
“As seen with Eurograbber, attackers are focusing on the weakest link, the people behind the devices, and using very sophisticated techniques to launch and automate their attacks and avoid traceability,” Kalige said.
