Identity Theft News

Clampi virus attacks bank transactions

Tuesday, September 22, 2009

A new Trojan called Clampi is being described as one of the most focused and successful cybercrime operations on the internet by computer security experts, with the potential to perform identity theft and unauthorized financial transactions from an infected computer.

Unlike most Trojans, which lack the ability to replicate and spread with the facility of some other types of malware, Clampi utilizes a usually benign Microsoft utility to access other vulnerable computers on a network where it has taken root. Once one computer is infected, others frequently follow.

Clampi has been notably successful at obtaining sensitive log-on information and enabling cyber criminals to empty bank accounts. While the frequency with which most major anti-virus programs update is generally sufficient to keep up with the latest Clampi variant, security professionals warn that there is always a small window of vulnerability.

The security professionals further recommend that, due to the potential severity of a Clampi infection, computers containing the most sensitive data should be isolated from outside access. These computers should be used exclusively to perform financial or other sensitive operations, and should under no circumstances be used to browse the web or access email accounts.