A few online customers of Nordea Bank have had significant sums of money removed from their accounts as a result of malware spread by e-mail. The bank and police nevertheless managed to prevent the money from being deposited into the criminals' accounts. Timo Laine of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) says that police have interrogated a number of suspects in the case. The malicious software has been isolated, and its workings are under investigation.
Nordea said on Tuesday evening that no money was actually lost in the attack.
The malware is a variant of the ZBot Trojan spread through an e-mail warning of nuclear fallout in Finland and a similar email promising the sexual services of one Tatjana (see article).
The computer would be contaminated and compromised if the recipient opened a file that came with the email, on a separate website.
The Trojan horse malware is programmed to activate when the user of the infected computer uses Nordea's online banking service.
Nordea advises all customers to immediately contact its customer service if the customer has opened the link and later used the online banking service.
Nordea's customer service operates from Monday through Friday from 8:00 AM to 8:00 PM. The number to call in Finland is 0200 3000. At other times, call 06 784 7790.
