After a hit-and-run campaign against consumer online bank accounts in 2010, the Zeus Trojan now appears to be aggressively targeting a clutch of second-tier money exchange and payment services. After a hit-and-run campaign against consumer online bank accounts in 2010, the Zeus Trojan now appears to be aggressively targeting a clutch of second-tier money exchange and payment services.According to Israeli company Trusteer, which specialises in tracking the activities of Zeus and its variants, there are now at least 26 different configurations to attack one company alone, Money Bookers.Each configuration represents a separate set of slightly different instructions on how to attack the sites associated with a brand, with the number detected being similar in scale to the number of configurations that would be created to attack much larger companies.One thing that becomes clear is that along with the other services attacked – Web Money and Nochex, netSpend – this Zeus campaign is second-tier nature of these companies. Perhaps fearing attention, on this evidence the criminals are steering clear of large consumer payment services such as PayPal. Ironically, the criminals have also gone after a service called e-gold, which several years ago was itself accused of being a conduit for money laundering. Configurations used against the site are sophisticated enough to try and trick the site into sending it an alternate password to access an account. “We believe this trend of targeting online payment providers will continue as more retailers allow these alternate payment methods with their Web sites,” said Trusteer.What Trusteer hasn’t been able to document is whether the attacks it has detected have been successful. If the pattern of attacks through 2009 and 2010 on consumers is any guide, knowledge of that dimension tends to come later as victims emerge. Related content brandpost How an integrated platform approach improves OT security By Richard Springer Sep 26, 2023 5 mins Security news Teachers urged to enter schoolgirls into UK’s flagship cybersecurity contest CyberFirst Girls aims to introduce girls to cybersecurity, increase diversity, and address the much-maligned skills shortage in the sector. By Michael Hill Sep 26, 2023 4 mins Back to School Education Industry IT Training news CREST, IASME to deliver UK NCSC’s Cyber Incident Exercising scheme CIE scheme aims to help organisations find quality service providers that can advise and support them in practising cyber incident response plans. By Michael Hill Sep 26, 2023 3 mins IT Governance Frameworks Incident Response Data and Information Security news Baffle releases encryption solution to secure data for generative AI Solution uses the advanced encryption standard algorithm to encrypt sensitive data throughout the generative AI pipeline. By Michael Hill Sep 26, 2023 3 mins Encryption Generative AI Data and Information Security Podcasts Videos Resources Events SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER From our editors straight to your inbox Get started by entering your email address below. Please enter a valid email address Subscribe