New computer Virus targeting email, banking data on the prowl!

Cyber security sleuths have alerted Indian Internet users about the destructive phishing attacks by a virus which could compromise personal email and banking-related data.

The virus, identified as 'Golroted', belongs to the deadly 'Trojan' category of computer viruses which is characterised by its smart capability of masking its original content and looking like genuine.

"It has been reported that variants of a new malware family, dubbed as Golroted, having spyware functionalities are spreading. These malware typically spread through spear phishing mails having attachments as zipped archives or Microsoft Office document exploits or via removable drives," the Computer Emergency Response Team of India (CERT-In) said in a latest advisory to domestic Internet users.

The CERT-In is the nodal agency to combat hacking, phishing and to fortify security-related defences of the Indian Internet domain.

The agency said once the virus infects a system successfully, it is capable of stealing Personal Identifiable Information (PII) from the affected machine that includes computer name, local date or time, Internet Protocol address, installed security software, among other private and sensitive system details.

The virus is notorious for undertaking specific attacks with regard to banking and financial transactions, ultimately leading to loss of funds kept in the bank account.

"Golroted is reported as targeting banking sites, online payment sites, email accounts, social networking sites among others. The stolen information is ex-filtrated to a pre-configured File Transfer Protocol server/web panels or to email addresses as attachments," it said.

The agency said at least two aliases or pseudo-identities of the said virus have been detected till now.
"The spyware is capable to log key strokes, capture screen shots, scrap web browsers for saved passwords, browsing history etc," it said. The agency has suggested some counter-measures in this regard.