London police arrested a couple on suspicion of spreading a malicious Trojan virus that is believed to have infected tens of thousands of computers around the world, officials said Wednesday.
The Trojan, known as ZeuS or Zbot, is a sophisticated malware, spread via the Internet, and designed to steal personal identifying and financial information from users' computers.
Authorities said a man and a woman, both 20, were arrested earlier this month in Manchester, England associated with the distribution of the Zbot Trojan but were released on police bail pending further inquiries, Reuters reported.
Victims often unknowingly installed the Zbot Trojan on their systems, typically through some phishing or social engineering scheme that impersonates banks, tax offices, credit card companies or someone they know, enticing them to click on malicious links or visit infected Web sites. In one such attack, the Zbot Trojan impersonates an e-mail from a corporate IT department asking the user to update their Microsoft Webmail settings.
Once installed, the Zbot Trojan injects itself into the victim's Web browser and monitors all traffic. It then lifts credit card information as well as social security numbers and enterprise login credentials for social networking sites, as well as Web banking and financial accounts, which it subsequently sends to the attackers, according to researchers at security company BitDefender.
London officials said that monetary losses to organizations and individuals infected by the Zbot Trojan were significant while financial gains for the masterminds behind the malware were substantial.
The arrest, which was intended to combat the spread of the virus, represents one of the first arrests in the world, and the first in Europe, in connection with the Zbot Trojan.
