Spyware used in a £20 million cyber heist

Police reported yesterday that the London branch of the Japanese bank Sumitomo was the target of a foiled Internet plot to steal £20,000,000 from its electronic accounts.

One hacker is alleged to have been arrested in Israel.

The most likely way the hackers attempted to break into the bank would be by obtaining passwords and usernames of account holders or employees. That would be done by smuggling spyware (or Trojan software) onto these people’s computers. Spyware can monitor anything from Internet activity (sites visited, purchases made) to actual keystrokes made on their keyboards, information which is then relayed back to the hackers. Keylogging is particularly popular with malicious hackers, who can obtain anything from personal details, credit card details and more. Needless to say what this information is then used for...

But you can protect yourself against what can turn out to be an expensive experience if you do get keylogged. Anti-spyware software allows you to regularly sweep your computer to detect and destroy any such spyware. It’s estimated that most Internet users have some spyware installed on their computer without their knowledge. So make sure your credit card details remain yours, not some hacker's...