Hackers are preparing to launch a ‘dangerous’ virus called Nukebot which could raid your bank account and bleed you dry
ONLINE bankers have been warned that crooks are preparing to launch a virus likened to a nuclear explosion that could steal ALL your cash.
The "stealthy and silent" Nukebot malware and could empty your account and bleed you dry, experts claimed.
Victims only realise that they have been targeted once they notice the missing funds in their bank statement.
NukeBot is a banking Trojan - a piece of malicious software designed track banking pins and passwords so hackers can access people's online accounts.
Once you've been infected it “injects” malicious code into the web page of an online banking service displayed your browser and then steals your data to spoofs your credentials at a later date.
Earlier versions of the Trojan were known to the security industry as TinyNuke, but lacked the features necessary to launch attacks.
According to Kaspersky Lab researchers, the latest versions are fully operable, and contain code to target the users of specific banks.
There are already a number of compiled samples of this Trojan in the wild – shared on underground hacking forums.
They are rough, barely operational malware drafts; however, the company’s experts have managed to identify some that pose a real threat.
Sergey Yunakovsky, a security expert at Kaspersky Lab, said: "While criminals behind recent versions of this malware currently are not actively distributing NukeBot, this may, and likely will, change very soon.
Worried about malware? Here's how to protect yourself
- It's impossible to tell if you've installed Nukebot inadvertently so you'll need to rely on frequent security scans to check for it
- Always update your operating system on your laptops, tablets or smartphones
- Install any other software updates and switch on auto-updaters where possible
- Use an Internet security solution with tailored technologies to protect financial transactions
- Regularly run a system scan to check for possible infections
- Never click on links you don’t recognise or download files from people you don’t know or trust
"We’ve already seen this before with some other malware families: after a short testing period of a ready-to-attack malware, criminals start distributing it widely through infected websites, spam and phishing.
"So far we have seen NukeBot versions which are ready to attack the customers of at least six banks located in France and the US, however, this list of targets looks like only the beginning.
"The goal of our brief research is to warn the banking community and online banking customers about a potential emerging threat. We urge interested parties to use the results of our research in order to protect themselves from this threat in advance."
The British hero who saved the NHS from the debilitating WannaCry malware attack earlier this year has pled not guilty to charges related to creating and selling a banking Trojan called Kronos.
Marcus Hutchins, 23, from Ilfracombe, Devon, discovered the “kill switch” for the WannaCry ransomware, which infected tens of the thousands of computers in 170 countries.
Worried about malware? Get the latest news on the biggest online threats
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