Over €36m stolen from 30 banks across Europe using new virus

Hackers have stolen more than €36 million from 30 banks across Europe using a new two-stage Trojan virus that spreads from a …

Hackers have stolen more than €36 million from 30 banks across Europe using a new two-stage Trojan virus that spreads from a victim’s PC to their mobile phone.

Over 30,000 online banking customers in Germany, Italy, Spain and the Netherlands were affected by the attack, which security companies called Eurograbber.

It is the second significant online banking breach this year. The first, Operation High Roller, involved an estimated $60million in fraudulent money transfers at 60 financial institutions, according to Guardian Analytics, an online banking security company.

Like High Roller, Eurograbber started in Italy before spreading across Europe. Both attacks used a variant of the Zitmo, or Zeus in the Mobile, Trojan, a type of virus that has no visible effect and lies dormant until an opportune moment. – (Copyright the Financial Times Limited 2012)