A criminal gang of hackers, believed to be based in Russia,
may have infected more than 100,000 computers over a 16 month period with a software program,
called Coreflood, that could extract significant amounts of personal
information from the computer owner. The attack was targeted against
large corporations and government agencies.
One of the unique aspects of the malicious software is that
it captures screen information in addition to passwords. Making it possible
for hackers to extract information like bank balances, social security numbers, emails and other sensitive identifying information, without having to actually log in
to the stolen accounts.
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UPDATE: PCs in the Middle East are now confirmed to be affected as welll. "We
can confirm that we have detected and have been tracking machines
infected with what is sometimes known as Coreflood within the region,"
said Ivor Rankin, practice manager of Operational Security Services at
Symantec MENA.
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