Form grabbing is a form of malware that works by retrieving authorization and log-in credentials from a web data form before it is passed over the Internet to a secure server. This allows the malware to avoid HTTPS encryption. This method is more effective than keylogger software because it will acquire the user’s credentials even if they are input using virtual keyboard, auto-fill, or copy and paste. [1] It can then sort the information based on its variable names, such as email, account name, and password. Additionally, the form grabber will log the URL and title of the website the data was gathered from. [2]
The method was invented in 2003 by the developer of a variant of a trojan horse called Downloader.Barbew, which attempts to download Backdoor.Barbew from the Internet and bring it over to the local system for execution. However, it was not popularized as a well known type of malware attack until the emergence of the infamous banking trojan Zeus in 2007. [3] Zeus was used to steal banking information by man-in-the-browser keystroke logging and form grabbing. Like Zeus, the Barbew trojan was initially spammed to large numbers of individuals through e-mails masquerading as big-name banking companies. [4] Form grabbing as a method first advanced through iterations of Zeus that allowed the module to not only detect the grabbed form data but to also determine how useful the information taken was. In later versions, the form grabber was also privy to the website where the actual data was submitted, leaving sensitive information more vulnerable than before. [5]
A trojan known as Tinba (Tiny Banker Trojan) has been built with form grabbing and is able to steal online banking credentials and was first discovered in 2012. Another program called Weyland-Yutani BOT was the first software designed to attack the macOS platform and can work on Firefox. The web injects templates in Weyland-Yutani BOT were different from existing ones such as Zeus and SpyEye. [6]
Another known version is British Airways breach in September 2018. In the British Airways’ case, the organizations’ servers appeared to have been compromised directly, with the attackers modifying one of the JavaScript files (Modernizr JavaScript library, version 2.6.2) to include a PII/credit card logging script that would grab the payment information and send the information to the server controlled by the attacker hosted on “baways[.]com” domain with an SSL certificate issued by “Comodo” Certificate Authority. The British Airways mobile application also loads a webpage built with the same CSS and JavaScript components as the main website, including the malicious script installed by Magecart. Thus, the payments made using the British Airways mobile app were also affected.
Due to the recent increase in keylogging and form grabbing, antivirus companies are adding additional protection to counter the efforts of key-loggers and prevent collecting passwords. These efforts have taken different forms varying from antivirus companies, such as safepay, password manager, and others. [1] To further counter form grabbing, users' privileges can become limited which would prevent them from installing Browser Helper Objects (BHOs) and other form grabbing software. Administrators should create a list of malicious servers to their firewalls. [2]
New countermeasures, such as using Out-of-band communication, to circumvent form grabbers and Man-in-the-browser are also emerging; examples include FormL3SS.; [7] those that circumvent the threat use a different communication channel to send the sensitive data to the trusted server. Thus, no information is entered on the compromised device. Alternative Initiatives such as Fidelius use added hardware to protect the input/output to the compromised or believed compromised device.
Malware is any software intentionally designed to cause disruption to a computer, server, client, or computer network, leak private information, gain unauthorized access to information or systems, deprive access to information, or which unknowingly interferes with the user's computer security and privacy. Researchers tend to classify malware into one or more sub-types.
Keystroke logging, often referred to as keylogging or keyboard capturing, is the action of recording (logging) the keys struck on a keyboard, typically covertly, so that a person using the keyboard is unaware that their actions are being monitored. Data can then be retrieved by the person operating the logging program. A keystroke recorder or keylogger can be either software or hardware.
In computing, Download.ject is a malware program for Microsoft Windows servers. When installed on an insecure website running on Microsoft Internet Information Services (IIS), it appends malicious JavaScript to all pages served by the site.
Pharming is a cyberattack intended to redirect a website's traffic to another, fake site by installing a malicious program on the victim's computer in order to gain access to it. Pharming can be conducted either by changing the hosts file on a victim's computer or by exploitation of a vulnerability in DNS server software. DNS servers are computers responsible for resolving Internet names into their real IP addresses. Compromised DNS servers are sometimes referred to as "poisoned". Pharming requires unprotected access to target a computer, such as altering a customer's home computer, rather than a corporate business server.
Crimeware is a class of malware designed specifically to automate cybercrime.
A password manager is a software program to prevent password fatigue by automatically generating, autofilling and storing passwords. It can do this for local applications or web applications such as online shops or social media. Web browsers tend to have a built-in password manager. Password managers typically require a user to create and remember a single password to unlock to access the stored passwords. Password managers can integrate multi-factor authentication.
Webattacker is a do-it-yourself malware creation kit that includes scripts that simplify the task of infecting computers and spam-sending techniques to lure victims to specially rigged Websites. It was allegedly created by a group of Russian programmers. The kit demands minimal technical sophistication to be manipulated and used by crackers.
Torpig, also known as Anserin or Sinowal is a type of botnet spread through systems compromised by the Mebroot rootkit by a variety of trojan horses for the purpose of collecting sensitive personal and corporate data such as bank account and credit card information. It targets computers that use Microsoft Windows, recruiting a network of zombies for the botnet. Torpig circumvents antivirus software through the use of rootkit technology and scans the infected system for credentials, accounts and passwords as well as potentially allowing attackers full access to the computer. It is also purportedly capable of modifying data on the computer, and can perform man-in-the-browser attacks.
Man-in-the-browser, a form of Internet threat related to man-in-the-middle (MITM), is a proxy Trojan horse that infects a web browser by taking advantage of vulnerabilities in browser security to modify web pages, modify transaction content or insert additional transactions, all in a covert fashion invisible to both the user and host web application. A MitB attack will be successful irrespective of whether security mechanisms such as SSL/PKI and/or two- or three-factor authentication solutions are in place. A MitB attack may be countered by using out-of-band transaction verification, although SMS verification can be defeated by man-in-the-mobile (MitMo) malware infection on the mobile phone. Trojans may be detected and removed by antivirus software, but a 2011 report concluded that additional measures on top of antivirus software were needed.
A web threat is any threat that uses the World Wide Web to facilitate cybercrime. Web threats use multiple types of malware and fraud, all of which utilize HTTP or HTTPS protocols, but may also employ other protocols and components, such as links in email or IM, or malware attachments or on servers that access the Web. They benefit cybercriminals by stealing information for subsequent sale and help absorb infected PCs into botnets.
Clampi is a strain of computer malware which infects Windows computers. More specifically, as a man-in-the-browser banking trojan designed to transmit financial and personal information from a compromised computer to a third party for potential financial gain as well as report on computer configuration, communicate with a central server, and act as downloader for other malware. Clampi was first observed in 2007 affecting computers running the Microsoft Windows operating system.
Zeus is a Trojan horse malware package that runs on versions of Microsoft Windows. It is often used to steal banking information by man-in-the-browser keystroke logging and form grabbing. Zeus is spread mainly through drive-by downloads and phishing schemes. First identified in July 2007 when it was used to steal information from the United States Department of Transportation, it became more widespread in March 2009. In June 2009 security company Prevx discovered that Zeus had compromised over 74,000 FTP accounts on websites of such companies as the Bank of America, NASA, Monster.com, ABC, Oracle, Play.com, Cisco, Amazon, and BusinessWeek. Similarly to Koobface, Zeus has also been used to trick victims of technical support scams into giving the scam artists money through pop-up messages that claim the user has a virus, when in reality they might have no viruses at all. The scammers may use programs such as Command prompt or Event viewer to make the user believe that their computer is infected.
Browser security is the application of Internet security to web browsers in order to protect networked data and computer systems from breaches of privacy or malware. Security exploits of browsers often use JavaScript, sometimes with cross-site scripting (XSS) with a secondary payload using Adobe Flash. Security exploits can also take advantage of vulnerabilities that are commonly exploited in all browsers.
GameOver ZeuS (GOZ), also known as peer-to-peer (P2P) ZeuS, ZeuS3, and GoZeus, is a Trojan horse developed by Russian cybercriminal Evgeniy Bogachev. Created in 2011 as a successor to Jabber Zeus, another project of Bogachev's, the malware is notorious for its usage in bank fraud resulting in damages of approximately $100 million and being the main vehicle through which the CryptoLocker ransomware attack was conducted, resulting in millions of dollars of losses. At the peak of its activity in 2012 and 2013, between 500,000 and 1 million computers were infected with GameOver ZeuS.
Tiny Banker Trojan, also called Tinba, is a malware program that targets financial institution websites. It is a modified form of an older form of viruses known as Banker Trojans, yet it is much smaller in size and more powerful. It works by establishing man-in-the-browser attacks and network sniffing. Since its discovery, it has been found to have infected more than two dozen major banking institutions in the United States, including TD Bank, Chase, HSBC, Wells Fargo, PNC, and Bank of America. It is designed to steal users' sensitive data, such as account login information and banking codes.
SpyEye is a malware program that attacks users running Google Chrome, Safari, Opera, Firefox and Internet Explorer on Microsoft Windows operating systems. This malware uses keystroke logging and form grabbing to steal user credentials for malicious use. SpyEye allows hackers to steal money from online bank accounts and initiate transactions even while valid users are logged into their bank account
njRAT, also known as Bladabindi, is a remote access tool (RAT) with user interface or trojan which allows the holder of the program to control the end-user's computer. It was first found in June 2013 with some variants traced to November 2012. It was made by a hacking organization from different countries called M38dHhM and was often used against targets in the Middle East. It can be spread through phishing and infected drives. To date, there are many versions of this virus, the most famous of which is njRAT Green Edition.
ZeuS Panda, Panda Banker, or Panda is a variant of the original Zeus under the banking Trojan category. Its discovery was in 2016 in Brazil around the time of the Olympic Games. The majority of the code is derived from the original Zeus trojan, and maintains the coding to carry out man-in-the-browser, keystroke logging, and form grabbing attacks. ZeuS Panda launches attack campaigns with a variety of exploit kits and loaders by way of drive-by downloads and phishing emails, and also hooking internet search results to infected pages. Stealth capabilities make not only detecting but analyzing the malware difficult.
Agent Tesla is a remote access trojan (RAT) written in .NET that has been actively targeting users with Microsoft Windows OS-based systems since 2014. It is a versatile malware with a wide range of capabilities, including sensitive information stealing, keylogging and screenshot capture. Since its release, this malicious software has received regular updates. It is sold as a malware-as-a-service, with several subscription options available for purchase. Campaigns involving Agent Tesla often start with phishing emails, masquerading as legitimate messages from trusted sources.
In computing, infostealers are a form of malicious software created to breach computer systems to steal sensitive information—including login details, financial information, and other personally identifiable information. The stolen information is then packaged, sent to the attacker, and often traded on illicit markets to other cybercriminals.
