How to Prevent Identity Theft – Beware of Cunning Perpetrator, Zeus

If you want to know how to prevent identity theft, then it would help to know a little bit about what malicious malware is out there so that you’re aware of some facts about identity theft. In this article, we will take a look at Trojan horse malware package ZeuS (otherwise known as Zbot) that runs on versions of Microsoft Windows. Capable of carrying out many malicious and criminal tasks, it is often used to steal banking information by man-in-the-browser keystroke logging and form grabbing. Also used to install CryptoLocker ransomware, Zeus is spread mainly through drive-by downloads and phishing schemes. The virus was first identified in July 2007 when it was used to steal information from the United States Department of Transportation, and it became more widespread in March 2009. A security company called Prevx discovered in June 2009, that Zeus had compromised over 74,000 FTP accounts on websites ranging from Bank of America, NASA, Monster.com, ABC, Oracle, Play.com, Cisco, Amazon, and BusinessWeek.

As the Zeus malware hides itself using stealth techniques, the more difficult it is to detect. Even with up-to-date antivirus and other security software.  You’re going to be surprised to find that, it is considered the primary reason why the Zeus malware has become the largest botnet on the Internet, with an estimated 3.6 million PCs infected in the USA alone. Some security experts are advising that businesses continue to offer training to users to teach them to refrain from clicking on hostile or suspicious links in emails or Web sites, and to keep antivirus protection up to date. Since antivirus software generally does not claim to reliably prevent infection, it is important that identity theft information is distributed widely on the internet to ensure that consumers have some knowledge on what to look out for. With statements from the likes of Browser Protection saying it can prevent "some infection attempts," it would make perfect sense to be aware of the fundamental basics of how to prevent identity theft.

Announced by the FBI in October 2010, hackers in Eastern Europe had managed to infect computers around the world using Zeus. Distributed in an email, the virus targeted individuals at businesses and municipalities. When the email was opened the Trojan software installed itself on the victims computer, secretly capturing passwords, account numbers, and other data used to log into online banking accounts. It is no-wonder then that the hackers then used this information to take over the bank accounts of their victims and to make unauthorized transfers amounting to thousands of dollars at a time, often routing the funds to other accounts controlled by a network of money mules who are paid hefty commissions to facilitate these illegal transactions. Recruited from overseas, many of the US-based money mules created bank accounts using fake identifications and once the money was in the accounts, they would either wire it back to their bosses in Eastern Europe, or withdraw it in cash to smuggle out of the United States.

Having stolen seventy million US dollars, more than a hundred people were arrested on charges of conspiracy to commit bank fraud and money laundering, comprising over 90 individuals in the US, and the others in the UK and Ukraine.

Arrested in Atlanta, Georgia, USA in 2013, Hamza Bendelladj was said to be the mastermind behind Zeus. Charged with several counts of wire fraud and computer fraud and abuse, he was accused of operating SpyEye botnets—a bot functionally similar to ZeuS. He is said to have developed, marketed and sold various versions of the SpyEye virus and component parts on the Internet, and allowed cybercriminals to customize their purchases to include tailor-made methods of obtaining financial information from their victims. It was also alleged that Bendelladj advertised SpyEye on Internet forums devoted to cyber crime and operated Command and Control servers. If you’re the kind of person that sees sense in knowing how to prevent identity theft, then I’m sure you’ll agree that digging up some useful identity theft information will be exactly what you need to do.

There are six types of Identity Theft:

• New Account Fraud
• Account Takeover Fraud
• Criminal Identity Theft
• Medical Identity Theft
• Identity Cloning
• Commercial Identity Theft

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