Online Virus Robs 3,000 UK Bank Accounts: Expected in the US soon.

Around £675,000 was taken from a “large UK financial institution” over the last month with 3,000 customers hit – and the attacks are ongoing.

Online security firm M86 Security Labs said the customers were infected with a Trojan virus – which cannot be detected by traditional anti-virus software – while browsing the internet.

The Trojan, known as a Zeus v3, copies the passwords and usernames of customers’ online details and transfers their funds to a different account.

It then gives the victim of the virus a false bank balance screen so they are unaware the cash has been taken.

M86 said the virus is potent because it has been carried on legitimate websites located in the UK and not confined to porn and gambling hubs.

The online security firm, based in California and Britain, uncovered the fraud when it penetrated the criminals’ command server, based in Eastern Europe, and found a list of all the cash transfers.

The company said the cyber criminals had modified the Zeus virus, which is one of the most popular type of Trojan used by fraudsters, taking online hacking to a “new level of technical sophistication”.

“According to our research, these cybercriminals used a combination of the new Zeus v3 Trojan and exploit toolkits to successfully avoid anti-fraud systems while robbing bank accounts,” the firm’s report said.

“This indicates a new level of technical sophistication and signals the continuation of a cybercrime trend.

“Two years ago, M86 Security Labs identified Zeus, which became one of the most popular trojans used by cybercriminals.

“Today, the latest iteration, Zeus v3, not only acts a data collector – it also performs illegal online banking transactions.”

The name of the financial institution affected has not be released by M86 and high street banks have refused to comment.

Last year £59.7m was lost to online banking fraud, according to Financial Fraud Action UK.

A spokeswoman at the industry body said the use of Trojans or malicious software to steal cash was “nothing new”.

“Bank systems are hard to attack so they’re having to go through the easier link in the chain, which is the customers,” she said.

“They’re hoping customers aren’t taking security precautions. We’ve been seeing this for the last few years and we’re constantly urging people to protect their computers to try to mitigate the risk of becoming a victim.”

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