{"id":4816,"date":"2014-02-18T19:48:43","date_gmt":"2014-02-19T00:48:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.nccomputertech.com\/?p=4816"},"modified":"2014-02-18T19:48:43","modified_gmt":"2014-02-19T00:48:43","slug":"zeus-banking-malware-hides-crucial-file-inside-a-photo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/2014\/02\/18\/zeus-banking-malware-hides-crucial-file-inside-a-photo\/","title":{"rendered":"Zeus banking malware hides crucial file inside a photo"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/a><\/p>\n

A newly discovered variant of the notorious Zeus banking trojan is disguising a crucial configuration code in a digital photo, a technique known as steganography.<\/p>\n

Zeus is one of the most effective tools to steal online banking details, hijacking login details as a person accesses his account and masking secret transfers in the background.<\/p>\n

The variant, called ZeusVM, downloads a configuration file that contains the domains of banks that the malware is instructed to intervene in during a transaction, wrote Jerome Segura, a senior security researcher with Malwarebytes. He wrote the behavior was first noticed by a French security researcher who writes under the name Xylitol.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe malware was retrieving a JPG image hosted on the same server as were other malware components,\u201d Segura wrote.<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

Steganography has long been used by writers of malicious software. By embedding code in a file format that looks legitimate, there\u2019s a chance the file will be given a green light by security software.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom a webmaster point of view, images (especially ones that can be viewed) would appear harmless,\u201d Segura wrote.<\/p>\n

The suspect image appears to be much larger when compared to an identical one in bitmap mode, he wrote. The data added by the cybercriminals had been encrypted using Base64 encoding and then RC4 and XOR encryption algorithms.<\/p>\n

When decrypted, the file shows the banks targeted, including Deutsche Bank, Wells Fargo and Barclays.<\/p>\n

via Zeus banking malware hides crucial file inside a photo | PCWorld<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A newly discovered variant of the notorious Zeus banking trojan is disguising a crucial configuration code in a digital photo, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[7],"tags":[588,655],"class_list":["post-4816","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-security","tag-jpg","tag-malware"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/papNkV-1fG","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":9930,"url":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/2025\/05\/16\/fbi-says-toss-your-old-router\/","url_meta":{"origin":4816,"position":0},"title":"FBI Says Toss Your Old Router","author":"NCCT","date":"May 16, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"https:\/\/youtu.be\/scR199zRjvA On Security Now, Steve talks about the FBI's suggestion that we should be tossing out our old routers.","rel":"","context":"In "Security"","block_context":{"text":"Security","link":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/category\/security\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/img.youtube.com\/vi\/scR199zRjvA\/0.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":9655,"url":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/2021\/03\/09\/fuquay-varina-and-holly-springs-computer-repair\/","url_meta":{"origin":4816,"position":1},"title":"Fuquay Varina and Holly Springs Computer Repair","author":"NCCT","date":"March 9, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Welcome to our blog. NC Computer Tech services Fuquay Varina, Holly Springs, and surrounding NC areas. We offer prompt, professional, courteous service with over twenty years of experience dealing with residential and small business clients offering them solutions and fixing their computer and network issues at reasonable rates. Our services\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Technology"","block_context":{"text":"Technology","link":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/category\/technology\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":9452,"url":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/2018\/11\/19\/internal-bug-discovery-security-now-693\/","url_meta":{"origin":4816,"position":2},"title":"Internal Bug Discovery – Security Now 693","author":"NCCT","date":"November 19, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"https:\/\/youtu.be\/ClVI9PMQGCY Australia vs Encryption, Google+ Bugs Hasten its Demise -- Australia's recently passed anti-encryption legislation -- Details of a couple more mega-breaches including a bit of Marriott follow-up -- A welcome call for legislation from Microsoft -- A new twist on online advertising click fraud -- The DHS is interested\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Microsoft"","block_context":{"text":"Microsoft","link":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/category\/microsoft\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/img.youtube.com\/vi\/ClVI9PMQGCY\/0.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4816","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4816"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4816\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4816"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4816"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4816"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}