Hacking Exposed Malware & Rootkits: Security Secrets and Solutions, Second Edition, 2nd Edition

PART II

ROOTKITS

CASE STUDY: The Invisible Rootkit That Steals Your Bank Account Data

Let’s go back to a time when a new form of rootkit was introduced that rocked the industry. In 2008, a rootkit appeared in the wild, stealing financial data by installing keyloggers on computers and monitoring when users entered their usernames and passwords for many European banks. This rootkit was the most malicious of its kind ever seen. Invisible to all anti-rootkit and anti-malware utilities, including those from leading security and antivirus vendors, this rootkit downloaded malware that logged all keystrokes typed into the computer. Between December 12, 2007, and January 7, 2008, iDefense, a security firm owned by Verisign, detected approximately 5000 ...