On Tuesday, October 13, The United States Department of Justice announced that they had taken down and seized multiple command-and-control (C&C) servers that were part of a network used by the Dridex trojan to upload stolen information and distribute malware.
U.S. Attorney Hickton said, “Through a technical disruption and criminal indictment we have struck a blow to one of the most pernicious malware threats in the world.”
Dridex, also known as ‘Bugat’ and ‘Cridex’, is a malicious trojan used by criminals to steal bank login credentials from an infected PC, in order to gain access to a victim’s bank account—it’s been quite successful too, with losses in the UK estimated at £20 million and in the US at $10 million.
Dridex is commonly distributed in the form of a phishing email, and often contains an infected Word doc attachment. When a victim opens the Word document they unknowingly infect their PC, thereby allowing attackers to eavesdrop on their computer’s activity and automate the theft of data.
Head of Operations at the National Crime Agency’s National Cyber Crime Unit (NCCU), Mike Hulett, said: “This is a particularly virulent form of malware and we have been working with our international law enforcement partners, as well as key partners from industry, to mitigate the damage it causes. Our investigation is ongoing and we expect further arrests to be made.”
While the FBI and other international agencies continue their investigations, UK’s National Crime Agency (NCA) is still warning UK internet users to be aware of and protect themselves against Dridex.
Even though the distribution network has been crippled, the actual malware still exists and can be used by other criminals.
Mike Hulett goes on to provide sound advice for everyone, “We urge all internet users to take action and update your operating system. Ensure you have up to date security software and think twice before clicking on links or attachments in unsolicited emails”.
If you don’t already have a suitable antivirus solution in place, we recommend you install one today. Download our award-winning AVG Protection for your PC to help prevent malware and viruses.
If you or anybody you know has been affected by cybercrime fraud you can report it to:
US
Federal Bureau of Investigation, Internet Crime Complaints Center
http://www.ic3.gov/default.aspx
UK
ActionFruad – National Fraud & Cyber Crime Reporting Centre
http://www.actionfraud.police.uk
AUS
ACORN – Australian Cybercrime Online Reporting Network
https://report.acorn.gov.au
