Eurograbber online banking scam steals EUR 36 million in Europe

The attacks began in Italy, and soon after, tens of thousands of infected online bank customers were detected in Germany, Spain and the Netherlands. In Spain alone, the cyberthieves stole EUR 5.8 million euros from 11,352 accountholders at seven banks.

This attack campaign was discovered and named “Eurograbber” by software company Versafe and Check Point Software Technologies, an international provider of software and combined hardware and software products for IT security. The Eurograbber attack employs a new and very successful variation of the ZITMO, or Zeus-In-The-Mobile Trojan and it worked by tricking victims into downloading a customized variant of the Zeus Trojan, which then took control of their computers and intercepted online banking sessions. Getting infected with the Eurograbber Trojan could occur during internet browsing or falling for a phishing email, according to Darrell Burkey, director of IPS products at Check Point Software Technologies, which worked with Israeli-based Versafe to help investigate Eurograbber.

According to a report released by Check Point Software Technologies and Versafe, this targeted, sophisticated attack is clear indication that the threat community is alive “and motivated to create ever more sophisticated attacks because the spoils are rich and many”.

Furthermore, “enterprises as well as individuals need to exercise due care and ensure they conduct important online business, especially financial transactions in the most secure environments possible. Further, individual users must be steadfast in ensuring all of their desktops, laptops and tablets have all possible security layers enabled and that they are kept current with software and security updates to ensure the best protection possible. Online banking customers should make efforts to ensure their computer is current and to also conduct their online banking transactions from the most secure environment possible.”