Russia arrests bank hackers
Russian police have arrested 50 hackers, who they suspect of stealing 1.7bn rubles since 2011. The group has targeted the country’s banks and financial institutions, typically using a Trojan named Lurk. This has created a network of bots, which then carry out the attacks. The hackers used some of the country’s most popular websites to spread Lurk. Once a computer was infected, the gang stole login names and passwords for victims’ online bank accounts. The group additionally attempted to steal a further 2.272bn rubles using false payment instructions, but these moves were blocked.

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Russian authorities have arrested a gang of 50 hackers suspected of stealing more than 1.7 Billion Rubles () from banks and other financial institutions in the country since 2011.The same criminal gang had tried to steal a further 2.273 Billion Roubles by issuing false payment instructions, but that were blocked.The group allegedly used a Trojan called " Lurk " to set up a network of bots on infected computers to carry out the attacks, according to Russia's FSB ().Initially identified in 2012, Lurk is a "fileless" Trojan that runs in RAM and has mostly been used for collecting banking credentials, especially for banks in Eastern Europe and the Russian Federation.The criminal gang allegedly seeded some of Russia's most popular websites with Lurk. Once infected, the malware downloaded more software modules, allowing the hackers to gain remote access to victims' computers.The hackers then stole login names and passwords for victims' online bank accounts, especially accounts held at Sberbank, Russia's largest bank in terms of assets held.Since Lurk was injected into the RAM, the malware made it difficult for security software to detect and analyze the malicious code once it had compromised a machine.Sberbank helped the Russian authorities to conduct a large-scale operation in 15 regions of Russia and detain around 50 people; 18 of those are currently behind bars in Moscow." a press release by the FSB stated.All of the 50 suspects were charged with the development, distribution and use of malicious computer programs.