About Us | Contact Us
View Cart

IBM Discovers Million Dollar Bank Transfer Scam

By Vigilize | Tuesday, April 7, 2015 - Leave a Comment

An article review.


The Dyre Wolf Scheme reaches new level of sophistication


ServIcons_ITAudit_01

IBM security researchers have uncovered a new, highly sophisticated bank transfer scheme. It seems to be run by a well-funded group of cyber criminals located in Eastern Europe and has successfully stolen more than 1 million dollars. The scheme has been called “The Dyre Wolf” for the use of Dyre malware and the addition of sophisticated social engineering tactics.

The scheme starts out with a simple spear phishing technique whereby an employee at the targeted organization gets an email containing a malware infected attachment. Once the employee opens the email attachment containing the malware, the malware is able to be installed. The malware then downloads the Dyre software, and waits for the user to visit a targeted banking site.

Once the user attempts to access one of the hundreds of targeted banking sites, the Dyre malware will alter the response from the site to indicate that there is a problem with the user’s account. The user is then prompted to call a 1-800 number to address the issue. This is where the sophisticated social engineering comes into play.

It’s interesting that the hackers use the same toll free number across all the targeted sites, but they still know which bank to answer the phone as. The person on the other end of the phone was an actual English speaking human being. This falsely builds credibility and by the time the caller hangs up, the wire transfer is already complete.

Orchestrated attacks are nothing new. The scheme obviously works well as it has led to multiple successful dupes by the hackers. These types of attacks where the hackers coordinate social engineering, malware, and hacking activities to target an institution may seem farfetched, but they are growing in complexity and financial reward.


Click Here To Read the Full Article


The above is what we call an “Article Review.” It is part of our attempt to help our readers find excellent reading materials to back up important technology risk management concepts. We try not to include articles that are merely news or additional news about mainstream issues. Instead, we try to highlight articles that our “typical clients” should be sure to read, or that are about concepts “outside the mainstream media.” infotex does not intend to endorse views represented by the writers of the articles we review, nor do we try to keep our Clients aware of EVERYTHING. For example, if a particular story concept is being reported upon in many different media sources, infotex usually chooses to ignore the story concept altogether, unless we can find a “unique take” on the story concept.


same_strip_012513


Latest News
    from Dan’s New Role . . . And note the date! Another one of those Dan’s New Leaf Posts, meant to inspire thought about IT Governance . . . . Once again, I am turning over a new leaf.  Those who have not been following this blog for its full fourteen-year history might not realize […]
    Top Seven Risks . . . that small bank Information Security Officers face in 2023! When we present audit reports to boards of directors, we also talk to the board about the top risks the institution is facing. Since 2006, we have been compiling a list of the “top seven risks small institutions are facing,” in […]
    Another awareness poster for YOUR customers (and users). Now that we have our own employees aware, maybe it’s time to start posting content for our customers! Check out posters.infotex.com for the whole collection! Download the large versions here: Awareness Poster (Portrait) Awareness Poster (Landscape) You are welcome to print out and distribute this around your […]
    The new plan calls for technology providers, and not end users, to be responsible for security… An article review.  Following multiple high profile cybersecurity incidents in 2021 and 2022 the Biden Administration recently announced new long-term goals for the nation’s cybersecurity, and under the new plan companies that provide technology would carry more of the […]
    R7: 2023’s Top Seven Technology Risks Webinar-Video What are the top seven risks your board should know about in 2023? Since 2006, Dan has been compiling a list of the “top seven risks small institutions are facing,” in preparation for his board presentations. This webinar will present the 2023 list in a manner that you […]
    A new way of helping people “read” new guidance… Look for more in the future! To save you time, we are proud to present “Adam Reads” . . . recorded versions of our Guidance Summaries! Below you can find an embedded player for the audio file. If you are having issues with that working, you […]
    Times they are a-changin’ . . . The infotex website is being updated. You read that right! We are in the process of updating our website from the circa 2013 version we have had for far too long. As the Digital Media Manager for infotex this excites me greatly and I look forward to the […]
    A new Team member’s first article! In today’s news cycle, it is difficult to miss all the fuss about AI, or more specifically, ChatGPT. So many differing opinions on the matter can make it hard to decipher what the future looks like. Few people think AI is a gimmick, but not many know the possibilities […]
    A draft version of the new framework may be available as early as this summer… An article review. As the cybersecurity landscape is constantly evolving, the tools we use to address risk need to evolve as well–and by this summer we should be getting our first look at planned changes to the NIST cybersecurity framework.  […]
    Another awareness poster for YOUR customers (and users).  Now that we have our own employees aware, maybe it’s time to start posting content for our customers! Check out posters.infotex.com for the whole collection! Download the large versions here: Awareness Poster (Portrait) Awareness Poster (Landscape) You are welcome to print out and distribute this around your […]