Internet fraud, phishing and bank Trojans

Which? Computing says in a report out today that security offered by UK banks to online customers varies from poor to okay.

Barclays scored top marks in the study, while Halifax was particularly criticised. Halifax customers are vulnerable to a simple keylogger as each entry is typed in full.

Online banking fraud reached over £50 million in 2008, more than doubling the previous year of £23 million – keylogging Trojans are blamed on this rise.

Phishing emails, according to Russian antivirus firm Kaspersky Lab, in all email-borne malware threats intercepted in August 2009 have decreased 6%. However, criminals are switching to banking Trojans.

Another security element that Abbey, Alliance & Leicester, HSBC and Halifax fail to do is log out customers when they browse other websites – this leaves accounts vulnerable if accessed on shared computers.

This does not just apply to banks and government organisations. Automated tools can now identify and exploit network exposures. Viruses, worms and Trojans have evolved into sophisticated, self-propagating attacks resistant to detection. Spyware, Adware, zero-day attacks, hackers, denial of service attacks, data interceptors and identity theft are all prevalent.

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