Russian authorities have arrested a gang of 50 hackers suspected of stealing more than 1.7 billion rubles (over US$25 million) from banks and other financial institutions in the country since 2011.
The same criminal gang had tried to steal an additional 2.273 billion rubles through the issuance of false payment instructions, but their attempt was blocked.
The hacking group is reportedly using a Trojan called "Lurk" to create a network of bots on infected computers to carry out their attacks, according to the Russian FSB (Federal Security Service).
Initially detected in 2012, Lurk is a fileless Trojan that runs in RAM and is mostly used to collect banking credentials, especially for banks in Eastern Europe and the Russian Federation.
[su_button url=”https://www.secnews.gr/104446/redirector-paco-clickfraud-botnet/” target=”blank” style=”flat” background=”#d5f126″ color=”#0404047″ wide=”yes” center=”yes” radius=”20″ icon_color=”#ffffff”]Read also: Redirector.Paco: The Botnet that is NOW hitting Greece! [/su_button]
The criminal gang is reportedly infecting some of Russia's most popular websites with Lurk. Once infected, the malware downloads more software modules, allowing hackers to gain remote access to their victims' computers.
The hackers then stole the usernames and passwords of their victims' online banking accounts, primarily accounts held at Sberbank, Russia's largest bank by assets.
Once Lurk enters RAM, the malware makes it difficult for security software to detect and analyze the malicious code once a machine has been compromised.
Sberbank helped Russian authorities conduct a large-scale operation in 15 regions of Russia and arrested about 50 people, 18 of whom are currently behind bars in Moscow.
[su_button url=”https://www.secnews.gr/103732/anonymous-attack-bank-of-greece/” target=”blank” style=”flat” background=”#f1262e” color=”#0404047″ wide=”yes” center=”yes” radius=”20″ icon_color=”#ffffff”]See also: The Bank of Greece (bankofgreece.gr) victim of Anonymous! [/su_button]
All 50 suspects are accused of developing, distributing and using malicious computer programs.
