With so many reports of Android and iPhone malware, it was
only a matter of time before a BlackBerry variant emerged.
A variant of the Zeus banking Trojan targeting BlackBerry
smartphones was detected by security researchers at Trend Micro. With more
users using their phones to get up-to-date alerts on their bank account
balances, to add funds, or to receive password hints, mobile malware has become
a lucrative attack vector for cyber-criminals, wrote threat analyst Patrick
Estavillo on TrendLabs
blog on March 4.
The BlackBerry Zitmo flies under the user’s radar because it
does not have a graphical user interface, and it can remove itself from the
list of applications attackers, Estavillo said. Mobile banking users unaware of
the infection on their phone would be inadvertently giving away their bank
account information.
Once the mobile Zeus has been installed on the smartphone,
it sends a confirmation message to the remote administrator at the
command-and-control server that it is ready to receive commands. The
confirmation message reads “App Installed OK,” and is sent to a phone number in
the United Kingdom, Estavillo said.
For more, read the eWEEK article: Zeus Trojan Variant Found on BlackBerry Phones.
