Over $70M Stolen Using The Zeus Trojan Virus

While everybody's waiting to learn what exactly the Stuxnet virus is going to do, the Zeus v3 Trojan virus has all but blown up.

When the infamous Zeus v3 Trojan virus was detected, it had already infected thousands of British online banking customers and had stolen £675,000 ($1M).

With the recent crackdown on the international-crime ring using the Zeus v3 Trojan virus, the stolen money was found to have gone up 70X.

Russell Brown, an FBI special agent in the bureau's cyber division, said the ring focused on accounts owned by municipalities and churches in addition to smaller corporate accounts.

The thieves realized "there was more money if you compromise a small-medium business," Mr. Brown said. "They were particularly focused on small and medium businesses because of the technological limitations" often found in security systems at smaller companies, he said.

More details concerning the Zeus v3 Trojan virus can be found at The Wall Street Journal and BBC News.

Also, check out a recent article on how you can protect yourself from being a victim of the Zeus v3 Trojan virus.