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Cridex variant of Trojan infecting computers

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CIOL Bureau
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BANGALORE, INDIA: Websense Security Labs has reported that it has captured video footage of the Cridex variant of Trojan infecting computers and automatically cracking CAPTCHA to replicate itself automatically.

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Cridex is a data stealing Trojan and is similar to Zeus in the way it operates - it logs content from web sessions and alters them to harvest more information from the infected user. Once infected, the Trojan goes to work, using that infected computer to create additional bogus online free email accounts to spam other accounts and replicate itself. In order to create the new accounts, the variant uses an automatic CAPTCHA cracking server,  a Websense release said on Tuesday.

Elad Sharf, spokesman of Websense Security Labs said "Trojan variants like Cridex are increasing their sophistication and the ease in which they spread to infect more users and steal an increasing amount of personal information. This includes social media and banking credentials and other valuable information,".

“These types of infections, variants of the infamous Zeus Trojan, are responsible for attempts to steal hundreds of millions of dollars through online banking accounts globally. This Trojan variant reinforces that CAPTCHA is still a real security issue. Hackers are readily adapting the variant to easily crack CAPTCHAs to self-replicate."

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