Viruses/Worms News

Trojan malware sends stolen user credentials via IM

Tuesday, September 1, 2009

Variants of a Trojan malware called Zeus or ZBot send out stolen user credentials via the Jabber instant messaging (IM) open protocol, allowing cybercriminals to hijack PCs almost as soon as they are infected.

According to web security researchers at the RSA FraudAction Research Lab, Jabber IM modules that have been built into Zeus/ZBot Trojans were configured to extract stolen user credentials from the Trojan's drop server database, which were sent instantly to the cybercriminal.

Zeus/ZBot variants flooded cyberspace on July 24 with record levels, according to security firm Fortinet. One variant spread through HTML/Agent.E, an attachment in a phishing spam email which used the eCard hook to potentially steal and sell personal consumer information.

In its August threat report, Fortinet reported that cybercriminals continued to use older techniques like the eCard scam, even while adapting to new web security vulnerabilities.

Of 168 new vulnerabilities detected, 62 were reported to be actively exploited in the wild, with a large portion of these attacked vulnerabilities rated as critical.

Two in-the-wild vulnerabilities in Microsoft Office Web Components (MS09-043) and in Adobe Reader/Flash (APSA09-03) were detected to have consistent exploit activity during this period, as well.