The number of malicious programs aimed at banks will rise to 20 million attacks this year. This statement was made in a report by Kaspersky Lab global research head Aleks Gostev.
The report says despite the monthly drop in financial malware being detected, the number of malicious programs that target financial institutions is increasing exponentially.
Other findings revealed that out of all financial malware, 70% of cyber attacks target the world's top 10 banks. Gostev says what complicates the matter is that cyber-crime against banks and their customers usually involves a multi-step process and is highly localised.
The process starts with social engineering, then phishing, the report says. Lastly, Trojan Horses are used to download the financial malware.
Mules for moving
An emerging trend is the use of money mules to move large amounts of cash without being detected, Gostev adds. The report states that mules are recruited through seemingly legitimate job offers, such as being hired for a financial manager post.
These mules make their bank accounts available to receive transactions for the criminals, and transfer between 85% and 90% of the money onwards through services such as MoneyGram or E-Gold. These programs ensure anonymity and the mule keeps whatever is leftover as payment.
The main reason for using mules is because banks have responded to the increased number of attacks by investing time, money and effort into developing safeguards for detecting fraud and illegal activity, Gostev says. One such mechanism is an alert to be triggered if a large amount of money is transferred to a suspicious region of the world.
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