Security Breach In Nordea – Hackers Loot US$ 1 Million

The customers of 'Nordea' - the largest bank of Sweden - were tricked by Russian hackers to download spyware that filched details of their account login to carry out the fraud. Swedish media has described this theft as the biggest online spoof between October and December 2006.

Russian hackers carried out a sophisticated scam to swindle €800,000 from Nordea. The Internet customers of the bank were made to download the Trojan horse that eventually pilfered the details about their account login.

The first assault was transpired in August 2006, however it could be detected only after one month. Nearly 250 customers are said to have been affected by this fiddle, while other 121 customers' accounts are put to investigation. Nordea has confirmed the hoax however it hasn't been made public up till now.

The emails pretend to be originating from Nordea and dupe the customers into downloading an anti-spam tool. And, once the customers download the attachment the malware 'haxdoor.ki' finds way in their computer systems.

The Trojan horse gets activated, as the customers key-in their login details. The malware then makes the system display an error message and sends the login details of the user to phishers in Russia and the US. In many cases huge financial transactions have also taken place without the victims being aware of any such mishap. However, the bank could manage to cancel a few transactions. The bank has also assured to compensate the victims.

With the safe institutions like banks now turning the hot favorites among fishers, online customers are worried about the safety of their assets lying there.

The bank is the largest among four Nordic nations namely Denmark, Finland, Sweden, and Norway and it has reportedly more than 2.2 million customers. Nordea added most of the customers being affected by this scam were those who had never installed any anti-virus on their PCs.

Swedish police has traced the attacks to Russia, through servers in US. The police has already detained above 100 middlemen in Sweden, said the bank.

A spokesman of Nordea has confirmed that the attacks are still continuing but told to silicon.com that the intensity of such attacks has been calmed down post the initial incursion last autumn.

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» SPAMfighter News - 1/24/2007