Brazilian banking Trojan uses Facebook to infect victims
A banking Trojan called SpyBanker is causing havoc in Brazil, with victims being infected either by drive-by downloads or by following links offering free software downloads. Some 99% of those affected say that these hits occurred on Facebook. Researchers have discovered that the hackers host the SpyBanker downloader on Google Cloud servers.

The Spy Banker Trojan is spreading through Brazil through the help of Google and Facebook, according to researchers at ZScaler ThreatLabZ.

Attackers host the Spy Banker downloader on Google Cloud servers. The downloader, in turn, installs the payload Spy Banker Trojan Telax.

Victims are infected by drive-by download or led to it via links (shortened with the bit.ly URL shortener) posted on social networking sites -- 99 percent of the unsuspecting victims who clicked the link came through Facebook. The links claim to be for coupons or free software, including security software like Avast! anti-virus.

The Trojan has some stealthy capabilities. To stay out of the hands of security pros, one of the first things it does is check a machine for the presence of a virtual environment. It collects information about the anti-virus software running on the host machine and sends it back to the command-and-control server. It also contains both a 32-bit rookit and 64-bit rookit component.

This is not the first time Google is being used by attackers. In July, researchers discovered a phishing campaign that hosted malicious sites on Google Drive, and lured via phishing messages sent through Gmail.