FBI and Gameover Zeus: If you're feeling tired after the Heartbleed bug revelations or the eBay leaks, and you use Windows, brace yourself. The news is not pleasant. A few days ago we were the first to publish Symantec's announcement about the "takedown" of the Gameover Zeus botnet.
According to an announcement from the FBI, you have two weeks to protect yourself by changing your passwords.
Why the next two weeks?
Gameover Zeus is an extremely sophisticated malware that was uncovered after a massive international investigation. A criminal network has a botnet, or a distributed network of computers, all working together. Your computer could be part of this distributed system without you knowing it. You may have accidentally downloaded a trojan that has turned your computer into a botnet zombie.
Once your computer is infected, it acts as part of a larger hive (the botnet) to infect other computers, scanning them for any files containing financial or other interesting information.
If it doesn't find any interesting financial information, the trojan installs a Cryptolocker, which locks the contents of your computer and threatens to delete everything if you don't pay a ransom.
On June 2, the FBI, Europol, and the UK's National Crime Agency, along with other leading technology companies, announced that they had identified the source of Gameover Zeus. Experts from the FBI say that Windows users should ensure they are protected within the next two weeks. The statement is based on the time that the FBI and its partners estimate it will take criminals to regroup.
Authorities have taken the central server that controls the botnet offline, but they assume that within two weeks, the crooks will regroup and reprogram their attacks.
The FBI has named Russian Evgeniy Bogachev as the main suspect in the malicious campaign, but he remains at large and it is unclear how many others are involved.
What should you do?
If you don't use Windows, you can sit back and watch those who do, run. The majority of desktop and laptop systems sold worldwide run Windows. Gameover Zeus affects Windows and Microsoft servers.
If you already have anti-malware software, update it and scan your computer. If you don't have one, you should install one. There are free applications like AVG and Malwarebytes that are very good options.
The FBI also advises that you change your passwords immediately. This is the third or fourth time you've heard this in the last few weeks, but it's essential for your own security.
Source: secnews.gr
