ABN Amro hackers arrested in Russia and Ukraine

Police investigations into malware attacks on ABN-Amro customers have led to the arrest of three people in Russia and Ukraine. They would be involved in theft of more than 100,000 euros.

Among those arrested are young IT graduates who spread the viruses by e-mail among ABN-Amro customers, thus the Public Prosecution Service. From these people, the Russian and Ukrainian authorities have seized computers and other evidence. Other western banks are also said to have been attacked by the computer criminals. This happened via emails that appeared to come from the banks, asking customers to install a security update. However, the attached file was a trojan.

This malware monitored customers’ internet traffic and conjured up a fake site when they visited the bank’s internet banking site. This ensured that extra transfers were added to existing payment orders. Money was then deposited into accounts of cat-catchers, people who were used by the criminals to hide their own identities. The catchers then had to withdraw the money in cash and transfer it through transfer services such as Western Union.