WyzGuys Tech Talk

Modern cyber criminals are using more sophisticated blended attacks to achieve some pretty spectacular monetary hauls.  The Dyre Wolf malware exploits is currently be combined with a spear-phishing approach, a telephone based social engineering middle, and a distributed denial of service (DDOS) attack on the back end to access corporate bank accounts and wire transfer large sums of money.  Originally uncovered by IBM’s security team in 2014, this exploit had netted on cyber-crime group over $1 million dollars.  The IBM infographic below explains how the attack is payed out.

Again, the only way to really protect your business for the Dyre Wolf and similar exploits is through employee training.  The research undertaken by these criminal groups before launching their attack means the spear-phishing email will be cleverly crafted to appear legitimate, possibly originating from a real vendor or supplier.  Employees in charge of banking operations need to be trained in proper procedures.  A bank with never ask for banking credentials, and employees should be warned never to provide these to anyone.  Using a dedicated non-Windows banking computer or a banking Live CD can thwart the malware installation at the heart of this exploit.  We like Linux based computers or Google’s Chromebook for dedicated banking systems.

More info:

• IBM Security Intelligence