Zeus threatens to strike down community banks

Community banks that survived the economic crisis of the past three years are finding themselves in jeopardy again -- this time from cyber criminals using banking trojans, most notably Zeus, to steal money from customer accounts. Take the case of Mark Patterson, who with his brother owns the Patco construction firm in Sanford, Maine. In May 2009, cyber criminals stole $545,000 from the company's checking account over a period of six nights, taking out about $100,000 a night using Automated Clearinghouse (ACH) transactions. After tapping out the checking account, the losses rolled over to a linked line of credit, Patterson told attendees at the cyber crime Symposium 2010 in Portsmouth, N.H.

Posted in: Account Takeover Identity Theft ACH and Wire Fraud