Massive Cyber Attack In Progress In the USA, Europe, Latin America:

shtfplan ^ | 06/26/2012 | Mac Slavo

[freedommom]

Leading cyber security firm McAfee has issued a startling breaking news report that indicates the U.S., European and Latin American financial systems are under a massive financial attacks that have digitally siphoned some $2.5 billion from thousands of accounts from various financial institutions.

According to McAfee, the attacks are ongoing and international law enforcement agencies are currently working to shut them down:

McAfee and Guardian Analytics have uncovered a highly sophisticated, global financial services fraud campaign that has reached the American banking system. As this research study goes to press, we are working actively with international law enforcement organizations to shut down these attacks.

Unlike standard SpyEye and Zeus attacks that typically feature live (manual) interventions, we have discovered at least a dozen groups now using server-side components and heavy automation. The fraudsters’ objective in these attacks is to siphon large amounts from high balance accounts, hence the name chosen for this research: Operation High Roller.

With no human participation required, each attack moves quickly and scales neatly. This operation combines an insider level of understanding of banking transaction systems with both custom and off the shelf malicious code and appears to be worthy of the term “organized crime.”

This study found 60 servers processing thousands of attempted thefts from high-value commercial accounts and some high net worth individuals. As the attack shifted emphasis from consumers to businesses, mule business accounts allowed attempted transfers averaging in the thousands of Euros, with some transfers as high as €100,000 (US$130,000).

Three distinct attack strategies have emerged as the targets have expanded from the European Union, to Latin America, to the United States.

Debunking the popular wisdom that only big banks are affected, the research documents attacks at every class of financial institution: credit union, large global bank, and regional bank. So far, we estimate the criminals have attempted at least €60 million (US$78 million) in fraudulent transfers from accounts at 60 or more financial institutions (FIs). If all of the attempted fraud campaigns were as successful as the Netherlands example we describe in this report, the total attempted fraud could be as high as €2 billion.

[SomeCallMeTim]

ummm... this doesn’t sound like great news..

[CGASMIA68]

for now

[Bikkuri]

Very good (and safe) advice... it would make it like a debit card.. if it’s not there, they can’t take it ;)

[DNME]

My gut tells me this is just the beginning of a long, hot summer ... and summer isn’t even a week old yet.

Now Obummer will have an excuse to exercise his new powers to control the Internet, under the guise of a national emergency. Does he really have a “kill switch” for the whole shebang?

I sure hope everybody has a plan for meeting friends face-to-face, because you might not be able to reach them online for much longer.

[SolidRedState]

[UCANSEE2]

I think I’m safe because I imagine they are only going after accounts with money in them.

Well... I guess that gives a bunch of us something to actually be able to THANK the PRESIDENT for.

If not for him, we'd all have a ton of money to be stolen.

[GOPJ]

Thanks for the ping.