A powerful new computer virus has breached about 75,000 computers in 2,500 organizations across the globe, including the user accounts of various social networking sites, says internet security company NetWitness.
The ZeuS Virus, or ZeuS Trojan, collects login information for online financial sites, social networking websites, and the e-mail systems of infected computers and relays that data back to hackers via a network dubber the “Kneber Botnet”. The Kneber Botnet was thusly named after a username that linked the infected PCs on corporate and government systems, according to NetWitness.
Merck, Cardinal Health, Paramount Pictures, and Juniper Networks were among the targets in the attack, which was initially detected back in January during a routine installation of NetWitness software.
Upon further investigation, it was discovered that many commercial and government systems had been infected, including 68,000 corporate login credentials and access to various e-mail systems, banking websites, and social networks such as Facebook.
Detectives have made the first arrests in Europe to tackle the Kneber Botnet, London police said on Wednesday.
Police said a man and a woman, both 20, were arrested in Manchester. They have since been released on bail pending further investigation.
“The ZeuS trojan is a piece of malware used increasingly by criminals to obtain huge quantities of sensitive information from thousands of compromised computers around the world,” said Detective Inspector Colin Wetherill of the Met Police’s Central e-Crime Unit.
“The arrests represent a considerable breakthrough in our increasing efforts to combat online criminality.”
The arrests were among the first in the world (and the first in Europe) to combat the distribution and control of the ZeuS spyware.
If you think your computer may be infected, be sure to visit our Security Solutions page.
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