India saw 2,900 online banking infections in Q2 of 2013: Trend Micro

NEW DELHI: Online banking threats affected around 2,900 victims from India in the second quarter of 2013 as the world reeled under attack from inexpensive and sophisticated malware toolkits used by cybercriminals, according to PC security firm Trend Micro.

"Total online banking infections in Q2 were 145K (145,000) of which 2 per cent were from India which comes to about 2,900 online banking infections from India," Trend Micro Managing Director (India and SAARC) Dhanya Thakkar said.

Malware, or malicious software, is used by attackers to disrupt computer operation, gather key data, or gain access to private systems.

Trend Micro's Q2 2013 security roundup report said more online banking threats were seen in different countries this quarter, specifically in Brazil, South Korea, India and Japan.

"We found an online banking malware that modifies an infected computer's hosts file to redirect a customer of certain banks to phishing sites," Thakkar said.

He added the malware not only target the big banks but also smaller ones, including those that exclusively cater to online banking customers.

The report said FAKEBANK malware spotted this quarter spoofs legitimate applications. It contains specific Android application package files (APKs), which it copies to a device's secure digital (SD) card.

"Using the APK files, the malware displays icons and a user interface that imitates legitimate banking apps. This technique is reminiscent of PC banking Trojans that monitor users' browsing behaviours and spoofs banking sites," it added.

Thakkar said cybercriminals have not generated completely new threats and instead opted to repackage old ones.