A bank phishing scheme operated by a Moldovan man has resulted in $3.55 million being transferred from the bank accounts of a Pennsylvania mining company – the Penneco Oil Company Inc. – according to federal prosecutors.
The perpetrator of the campaign, Andrey Ghinkul, 30, has been charged following his recent arrest in Cyprus. He is awaiting extradition to the United States, with a hearing scheduled for next week.
The phishing campaign was sent out to numerous companies, with a number of recipients reportedly opening the email, only to have their computers infected with Bugat malware. Bugat Malware is a little known form of malware, operating in a similar fashion to the well-known Trojan Zeus.
Bugat malware functions as a SOCKS proxy server, allowing hackers to directly download and execute programs on an infected host’s computer, or upload files to remote servers. In order to escape detection, the malware communicates encrypted data with its command, and by doing so fails to trigger many traffic inspection software warnings.
The malware has been used to log information entered during online banking sessions, with Firefox and Internet Explorer browsers so far exploited. With the information obtained, hackers are able to make fraudulent wire transfers and ACH transactions. So far, small to mid-sized businesses have been most commonly targeted.
While many organizations are now looking out for Zeus infections, this new form of malware can escape detection more easily. The attacks also show how cybercriminals are diversifying their attacks in order to gain access to financial account information and avoid detection.
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The phishing campaign was used to send emails to a number of recipients in U.S companies, with the emails appearing to have been sent from medical providers, indicating the recipients had received a positive diagnosis for cancer.
Bugat Malware Bank Phishing Scheme Nest Hackers Over $10 Million
According to the FBI, Bugat malware has resulted in around $10 million in funds being transferred from U.S company accounts to hackers in Russia and Belarus.
The transfers from Penneco Oil’s accounts were made possible by the malware, which recorded bank passwords as they were entered on the infected computer. That information was then used to make the transfers. The first transfer of $2.2 million was made in August 2012, with the funds being received by a bank based in Krasnodar, Russia. A second transfer was made the following month, this time the recipient account was in Minsk, Belarus.
While the transfers did go through, action was swiftly taken by the bank – Indiana, PA-based First Commonwealth – and the funds were rapidly restored. Senior Vice President of Penneco, D. Marc. Jacobs, said the bank “worked to completely restore our funds almost immediately.” In this case, Penneco had all funds restored and the bank had to cover the cost.
Should Ghinkul be extradited, the case will be heard in Pittsburgh where another attempted victim was targeted. Sharon City School District nearly lost $999,000 to a Russian account. Fortunately, that transaction was successfully blocked.