Identity Theft News

Financial identity theft appears to rise

Monday, March 2, 2009

Cybercriminals creating malware that targets financial institutions in an effort for monetary gain are increasing at an alarming degree, according to a security provider.

Some security providers predicted there would be seven to eight million malware programs last year, SCMagazineus.com reports. However, after looking back at the numbers, it appears there were more than 15 million malware strains in 2008.

Officials told the news provider there is a big business for cybercriminal organizations that focus on data and identity theft with most of the malware coming from a affiliate systems built on "cybercrime control systems" that are for rent.

Because the framework is already there, anyone who can write code can attempt a malware attack with little effort, said security experts.
There have been two financial breaches this year, one of which may be the biggest reported credit card breach in history.

In January, Heartland Payment Systems announced its network security had been infiltrated and that some of their customers' sensitive information had been compromised. So far, there are pending lawsuits against the company concerning their lax security.

Recently Visa and MasterCard alerted various banks about a "major compromise" unrelated to the Heartland breach. It is still not known which institution was breached in this attack.