Hackers steal $120M

2010-03-11

IDG News Service is reporting that an ongoing computer scam targeting small businesses has cost U.S. companies $25 million in the third quarter of 2009 alone.

David Nelson, an examination specialist with the U.S. Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) presented estimates that showed that online banking fraud involving the electronic transfer of funds has been on the rise since 2007, haven risen to more than $120 million U.S. in 2009. These estimates are based on 'a variety of confidential reports from financial institutions'.

Nelson stated "Almost all of the incidents reported to the FDIC are related to malware on online banking customers' PCs. Typically a victim is tricked into visiting a malicious Web site or downloading a Trojan horse program that gives hackers access to their banking passwords. Money is then transferred out of the account using the Automated Clearing House (ACH) system that banks use to process payments between institutions."

Unfortunately for small business owners, Nelson said "Commercial deposit accounts do not receive the reimbursement protection that consumer accounts have, so a lot of small businesses and nonprofits have suffered some relatively large losses. In the third quarter of 2009, small businesses suffered $25 million in losses due to online ACH and wire transfer fraud."

An analyst with Gartner said that with advanced password-stealing botnet program attacks on the rise, that the losses may be even higher in 2010. Read the entire article here.