For a long time, we’ve heard about phishing attacks originating in Russia or eastern Europe that target western banks. There’s nothing surprising there. Latter-day Willie Suttons typically target big US or European banks because, well, that’s where the money is.
That’s why I was kind of surprised to stumble across a phishing Trojan that targets some of Russia’s largest online financial Web sites, including RBK Money (formerly known as RUPay), Yandex, Moneymail, and OSMP — one of Russia’s Paypal-alternatives. Aside from e-gold, I hadn’t seen this many Russia-specific websites listed as targets within a phishing trojan before.
Is Russia suddenly “where the money is?” According to Forbes, it is. The magazine reported last year that its most recent list of the world’s richest people included 87 Russian billionaires — a year-over-year increase of 64% — and 136,000 millionaires. So, maybe it makes sense for the people who build these malicious tools to target Russian banks and online payment sites. read more…