Huge attack hits 30,000 accounts in Germany, Italy and Spain

By John E Dunn | Techworld | Published: 16:11, 05 December 2012

A devastating Zeus Trojan attack was able to break the supposedly impregnable SMS authentication used by a clutch of European banks, stealing €36 million (£30 million) from tens of thousands of customers, security firm Check Point has revealed.

Dubbed ‘Eurograbber’, the attack on 30 unidentified banks across Italy, Spain, Germany, and The Netherlands happened over a period between August and mid-October of this year, eventually affecting 30,000 consumer and business accounts.

During the attack, the gang was able to initiate transfers ranging from €500 to €250,000 using mule accounts, the company said.

Eurograbber SMS Trojan steals