Crooks Hijack Online Brokerage Accounts

thanks, TorontoTrader, very kewl. There is now another thread on this very subject.

 

Makes me glad I'm a geek. This article has made the decision for me to switch my trading PC to Linux or OpenBSD. Hardware firewall in front of a *nix box with my packet sniffer turned on.

I'm not saying I'm impervious, but I can say I'm not passive about security.

Any notes about running IB's TWS on Linux? Anyone running OpenBSD?

 

Good one Risk. Thanks.

 

Bugger


http://research.sunbelt-software.com/threatdisplay.aspx?name=Virtual Keyboard Logger&threatid=42727


Advice Type Remove
Description Virtual Keyboard Logger logs all the buttons which has pressed on Virtual Keyboard systems that have been developped against KeyLoggers.


Try snoopfree + your normal xsoftspy, adaware, spybot collection

http://www.snoopfree.com/PrivacyShield.htm

 

I can't comment on IB, but as for OBSD...don't waste your time.

 

I am not a software engineer but I think the task of capturing with a trojan the exchange of input between ¡on screen keyboards¢ and the operating system is trivial. It will offer protection only in limited cases of keyloggers not designed to capture this exchange.

In one case that a trojan infected my pc, neither the antivirus nor spybot detected it. Instead I use Process Explorer application from time to time for monitoring any suspicious activity on my pc. With this application I spotted two suspect dlls running in memory and I detected the trojan.

http://www.sysinternals.com/Utilities/ProcessExplorer.html

 

cool tool I have all kinds of stuff running. How do you tell when something is shady? Any tips.

 

I take it you run snoopfree all the time?

It does not appear to use up much in the way of resources.

 

Two things might help immensely with your account security.

1 ... issue a broker instruction that account funds must only be credited to a pre nominated bank account ( namely yours)

2 ... Any transfer of funds must be initiated by fax only, never email, and using a pre set code which is never faxed or e mailed.

Any variations to the above must be received by fedexed hard copy only.

Always issue key broker instructions by hardcopy only.

 

For example I noticed that a legit windows application was consuming cpu time even when the pc was idle. I inspected in the lower pane the attached dll files with this application and noticed an unsigned one with an unfamiliar name. A right click and google of the name revealed it was part of a trojan application. I had to google and follow a long list of actions to get rid of it (clean windows registry entries etc). However you must be careful because most unsigned apps may be legit and deleting them can cause problems. Don¢t assume something is a Trojan unless absolutely sure about it.