It has recently emerged that over £20,000,000 has been stolen from various British bank accounts by malicious online hackers.
The hackers target victims through use of trojan software known as “Dridex”. A user is infected by unwittingly allowing this malware to run on their computer, where it then logs the data a user inputs whilst accessing their bank accounts.
Although banks have security in place, to flag suspicious transactions, the cyber-thieves can work around this, by making only small transactions which, when coming from thousands of infected users, quickly add up.
The Dridex Trojan specifically infected people through a malicious Microsoft Office document, which often appeared to be an invoice, emailed to the person.
This highlights the need for users to be vigilant in regards to their on-line security. Typical ways to go about this are:
- Ensure a trusted antivirus software is installed on all computers you use.
- Never open an attachment you don’t recognise.
- Always check your bank statements and query any transactions that you don’t recognise.