Privacy, Security & Virus Information

Just when you thought it was safe to leave your bank, OddJob comes and taps you on the shoulder

Computer hackers are getting more imaginative. It certainly seems that way with the news that another Trojan has hit the scene, going née the name of OddJob. Anyone who remembers that far back will know that OddJob was the oriental gentleman who tried to steal all of the gold in Fort Knox.

Now is seems that computer hackers are trying to do the same with their latest Trojan Horse which has taken the name of one of Bond's most famous and dangerous rivals. While Ian Fleming's version of OddJob was prone to violence when it came to robbing his victims, thankfully, the cyber version is much more subtle.

OddJob was set up to catch it victims out when they make access their bank account through the internet. Cyber criminals have caught on to the fact that many surfers fail to log out of their account by the conventional means or creating a mistaken impression that they have. OddJob has the technology to keeps sessions open after customers think they have "logged off", enabling cyber criminals to extract money unnoticed."

OddJob has been programmed to be able to infect the browser, and once the user has successfully authenticated his user name and password details with an online banking site, OddJob can create a logout screen while keeping the real banking session open.

Malware that is capable of attacking the banking system has long been the nightmare for the leading UK banks, which will have no way of being certain whether any on line transactions are legitimate or whether the customer's browser is infected.

For the time being the spread of OddJob has been fairly limited, yet by its nature, the damage that this sophisticated piece of software has caused may not begin to surface for weeks if not months. While the leading online security companies are working around the clock to learn all they can about this latest super virus, the same message has to be sent out to those for whom the internet has become their solitary means of controlling their financial affairs. That cyber crime is here to stay and is almost impossible to stamp out. Until an internet version of James Bond arrives to clean up this latest branch of global crime, installing the most powerful anti-virus software that you can find will have to do the job.

 

< Back