UK National Crime Agency Disrupts ‘Shylock’ Malware

Distribution of the “Shylock” malware has been disrupted by the UK National Crime Agency (NCA), in an effort to prevent a growing number of users from being compromised.

The Shylock malware reportedly infected more than 30,000 PCs across the world, with a specific focus on targeting bank accounts of UK residents.  Shylock, which included Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice passages hidden within its code, targeted PCs running Microsoft Windows.

The NCA confiscated servers responsible for distributing the malware – and the malware was able to steal banking login credentials.  Shylock could also capture data entered on select websites, and then upload it back to its home servers.

Here is what Andy Archibald, NCA’s National Cyber Crime Unit deputy director, said in a statement announcing the police operation:

“This phase of activity is intended to have a significant effect on the Shylock infrastructure and demonstrates how we are using partnerships across sectors and across national boundaries to cut cybercrime impacting the UK.  We continue to urge everybody to ensure their operating systems and security software are up to date.”

At the very least, security experts recommend users update their PCs and mobile OSes with the latest security updates, along with running anti-virus and anti-malware software.  Also, end-users need to be aware of clever phishing attacks using social engineering to trick them into clicking fraudulent links or downloading malicious programs.

Thank you to The Guardian for providing us with this information

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