Unveiling Zeus 2 Botnet's Command Center Targeting UK Users

Security researchers have uncovered the command and control network of a Zeus 2 botnet sub-system targeted at UK surfers that controlled an estimated 100,000 computers. Cybercrooks based in eastern Europe used a variant of the Zeus 2 cybercrime toolkit to harvest personal data - including bank log-ins, credit and debit card numbers, bank statements, browser cookies, client side certificates, and log-in information for email accounts and social networks - from compromised Windows systems.

Trusteer researchers identified the botnet's drop servers and command and control centre before using reverse engineering to gain access its back-end database and user interface. A log of IP addresses used to access the system, presumably by the cybercrooks that controlled it, was passed by Trusteer onto the Metropolitan Police.

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