This week, the FBI warned financial institutions about malware attacks that are targeting their employees to steal login credentials. Although financial malware such as Zeus and SpyEye have been used to attack online banking customers for years, using these tools to perpetrate fraud directly against financial institutions by compromising employee bank accounts is relatively new. We are not surprised by this development. Last year, IBM Security predicted that 2012 would be the year financial malware would be used to attack enterprises.

So, why is this happening?

Web Fraud Detection Investments Starting to Pay Off

According to the 2012 Web Fraud Detection (WFD) Magic Quadrant report, many WFD customers reported fraud reduction rates of 80 percent or more. Banks are simply doing a better job of protecting against malware today than they did in the past. With their livelihood at stake, criminal gangs are now looking to get a foothold deep inside financial institutions to bypass controls that are standing in the way of their financial fraud schemes. They are now attacking bank employees with the same advanced malware and extensive mule and money laundering processes used to commit fraud against online banking users.

Enterprise Security Is Not Effective Against Malware Attacks

Most financial institutions implement controls such as antivirus protection on endpoint devices and intrusion prevention systems on networks. Both are evaded by malware kits that are readily available in the underground market. IBM Security intelligence has found that the infection rate of enterprise endpoints can reach up to 4 percent, as calculated on an annual basis. Over the past 12 months, one large U.S. bank has removed or blocked more than 20 different financial malware families from enterprise endpoints using IBM Security Trusteer Rapport.

Financial Malware Is ‘Maturing’

Earlier this year, we published several blogs on malware attacks targeting enterprise endpoints, including point-of-sale computers, payroll systems and employee VPN access. What did these attacks have in common? They all used garden-variety financial malware Trojans such as Zeus (or one of its many derivatives) and SpyEye.

This FBI report specifically mentions two types of malware attacks: keylogging and remote access tools (RATs). While key-logging has existed for many years, RATs are a relatively new addition to financial malware (e.g., Zeus) toolkits. They have been specifically added to enable pre-attack reconnaissance and attacks on non-browser-based applications on employee endpoints.

So, What Should Financial Organizations Do?

The FBI warning outlines a set of 16 security recommendations that, if followed, should protect against these attacks. However, few organizations can effectively implement all 16 recommendations in a timely manner without adversely affecting employee productivity and existing business processes. IBM recommends that organizations increase their focus on the root cause of these attacks: advanced malware. Organizations should implement security controls that prevent and remove malware infections and stop key-logging, screen-capturing and remote-acess Trojans’ activity.