The latest fraud came into picture following an investigation in which an ATM in Kiev, Ukraine, dispensed piles of money in late 2013 at random times in a day without the entry of any card.
Kaspersky Lab’s investigation revealed that the hackers have been active since 2013-end at least.
The hackers, who are said to have infiltrated over 100 banks in 30 countries, used malware to penetrate into the internal computers used by bank employees, who conduct daily transfers as well as bookkeeping.
The malicious software sent back video feeds and images that explained the method of banking to Russians, Chinese and European criminal groups, The New York Times reported.
Kaspersky Lab principal security researcher Vicente Diaz told The Associated Press in a telephonic interview that prior to selecting another bank, the cybercriminals seem to have set their theft limit to about $10m.
Due to these reasons, the fraud could not be detected earlier.
The hackers are believed to have used various phishing schemes as well as other methods to gain access to banks’ computers and take screen shots or even videos of employees using their computers, according to Kaspersky’s report.
As part of phishing, cybercriminals created fake web pages to imitate popular online resources and attracted users into providing their data pertaining to account logins and passwords and other personal information.
According to Kaspersky, the proportion of financial phishing to all phishing attacks in 2014 declined by 2.7% compared to 2013, due to a decrease in the level of banking phishing mainly.
Image: Hackers use phishing schemes as well as other methods to gain access to banks’ computers. Photo: courtesy of chanpipat/ FreeDigitalPhotos.net
