Zeus Internet banking Trojan is able to infect PCs with up-to-date anti-virus 
(21/09/2009)
Zeus, which is also known as Zbot, WSNPOEM, NTOS and PRG, is the most prevalent financial malware on the Internet today. It infects consumer PCs, waits for the user to log onto a list of targeted banks and financial institutions, and then steals their credentials which are sent to a remote server in real time. It can also modify, in a user’s browser, the genuine web pages from a bank’s web servers to ask for personal information such as payment card number and PIN, one time passwords, etc.
According to Trusteer, the Zeus online banking Trojan infects machines that are running up-to-date anti-virus programs up to 77 percent of the time. These findings are based on a sample of more than 10,000 users of the Rapport browser security service, whose machines were infected with the Zeus Trojan.
The report released by Trusteer found that the majority of Zeus infections occur on machines which have an installed and up-to-date anti-virus product. Specifically, Trusteer found that among Zeus infected machines:
• 31% had no Antivirus protection installed
• 14% had Antivirus protection installed, but signatures files were not up to date
• 55% had up-to-date Antivirus protection installed
“When we set out to measure the efficiency of antivirus products in the wild against Zeus, we had no idea what kind of results we would get,” said Amit Klein, CTO of Trusteer and head of the company’s research organization. “The findings, that up-to-date anti-virus programs were only effective at blocking Zeus infections 23 percent of the time, are disturbing. This is bad news for consumers and banks, since the vast majority of Zeus infections are going unnoticed.”
Related topics: Internet and Web security Virus, Worm, Email security, spyware and malware
Print version | 
Email to a friend | 
Related articles
Data breaches: Trends, costs and best practices gives you all the latest information on securing personal and corporate data, key recommendations for immediate action to improve data security, and how to respond to data breaches.
Other Security news and resources
Security News
Suppliers Directory
Jobs forum
Classifieds
Knowledge base
White papers
Research library
Security books
Special reports
Security interviews
Security companies
Security events
Security links
Security market
Product channels
Access Control Biometrics CCTV Intruder Alarms IT Security Manned Guarding Perimeter Protection Physical Security Remote Monitoring Security Services Fire, Health & Safety Other Security Products
IT Security white papers and research library
Access Control Authentication Data Management Data Security Digital Signatures Email Security Identity Management Internet Security Intrusion Prevention Network Security Remote access security Security Management Security Policies Security Software Security Threats Virus Detection Software Virus Protection VPN Vulnerability Assessment Wireless Security
Security books, guides, standards and toolkits
RFID and Smart Cards books, guides and reference documents Biometric books, guides and reference documents CCTV books, guides and reference documents Intruder alarms and intrusion detection systems books, guides and reference documents Monitoring and surveillance books, guides and reference documents IT Governance, ISO 27001 ISO 17799 and BS 7799 toolkits Fire, Health & Safety books, guides and reference documents
