Dridex malware stole millions from British banks

A recent attack on British banking institutions highlights the importance of having a proper strategy in place to deal with malicious programs and hackers within your IT infrastructure. According to CNBC, a malware sample called Dridex was used to infiltrate computers and copy online banking information of unsuspecting people. Hackers used the program to steal $30.7 million from British banks and the losses worldwide could come out to around $100 million.

Authorities have arrested the hacker responsible for the infiltration, a Moldovan man named Andrey Ghinkul. In a release, the U.S. Department of Justice detailed how the attacks took place. The DoJ indicated that the botnet was also referred to as “Bugat” or “Cridex” and that it was distributed through phishing attacks wherein fraudulent emails with malicious attachments were sent to and downloaded by victims.

“The indictment alleges that Ghinkul and his co-conspirators used the malware to steal banking credentials and then, using the stolen credentials, to initiate fraudulent electronic funds transfers of millions of dollars from the victims’ bank accounts into the accounts of money mules, who further transferred the stolen funds to other members of the conspiracy,” the release stated.

Police apprehended Ghinkul, but he was only part of the group using this malware to inflict harm on users of the British banks. The investigation is ongoing, although the malware has since been disabled.

Struggles against malware continue
As authorities strive to find the culprits responsible for the theft of so much money from the banking institutions, companies across the world should take a step back and make sure they have effective plans in place for a situation in which something like this were to happen to them. Having a successful disaster recovery plan can make a big difference when attacks occur.

Getting hacked is expensive even for non-banking businesses. In early 2015, the Ponemon Institute found that the average consolidated cost of a data breach is $3.8 million, a 23 percent increase since numbers collected in 2013. These numbers continue to go up, indicating growing importance on keeping IT infrastructure up to date with the latest anti-virus solution and layered security system.

It’s clear that infiltration isn’t a good thing. According to CNN, reports found that 317 new pieces of malware were created in 2014 – that’s nearly 1 million new strains every day. Almost 90 percent of the cases involved computer bugs that hadn’t yet been fixed in company computer systems – showing a glaring inconsistency where it comes to cybersecurity strategies.

Augment your protection against infection
The recent event involving Dridex and British banking institutions serves as a harsh reminder that it’s important to invest in effective cybersecurity technologies like layered security systems and anti-virus solutions that provide adequate protection against malware intrusion. Anti-Virus from Faronics can be especially helpful in these situations, because it combines multiple capabilities like anti-spyware and anti-ransomware in one solution that can be easily deployed across an entire network.

Deep Freeze Enterprise is another Faronics product that provides that extra level of protection for computer systems. Deep Freeze allows companies to restore settings that have been tampered with by malicious programs. When malware gets in your system, it can create issues with configurations and infiltrate hard drives, with the eventual result of stealing your data and leaving your company high and dry. Utilizing a reboot to restore solution can purge your computer fleet of the malicious programs with the simple press of a button.

Get in touch with Faronics today to see how our products can help you add that extra layer of protection to your computer network.