A new piece of malware is designed to overcome the behavioral biometrics technology that is increasingly popular among financial services organizations, reports Softpedia.
It’s the latest version of Gozi, malware code that first emerged last year, and it’s already targeting organizations like BNP Paribas, ING Bank, PayPal, and more in countries including Japan, Poland, and Spain. It uses web injection attacks, overlaying web pages in its victims’ browser windows when they visit targeted online banking sites, and collecting the user data that is submitted.
Notably, for high-value targets the malware allows a human operator to manually take over an operation, and this version of Gozi also reportedly incorporates values related to the behavioral biometrics used by some security platforms—things like cursor movements, keystrokes, and so on—in order to emulate normal human patterns.
The bug’s emergence illustrates the ongoing dialectic between increasingly advanced security technology and the malware evolving in response, and raises questions about other online security options, such as biometrics proper. Would browser-enabled fingerprint scanning offer greater security for online transactions? Or could future malware also collect the data from a fingerprint scan transmitted online?
As for the current Gozi bug, Softpedia reports that researchers will discuss it in detail at the Black Hat USA 2016 security conference.
Source: Softpedia
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August 5, 2016 – by Alex Perala
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