A bit of bad news just as the business papers released that Barclays PLC will acquire ABN for $91 billion (USD).
A two-factor authentication system operated by Dutch bank ABN Amro has been compromised and money stolen from four customers who fell victim to a phishing scam.
The man-in-the-middle attack occurred after the customers opened an email with an attachment purporting to be from the bank, downloading malware onto their machines. When they next tried to visit the bank’s website, their browser was redirected to a fake site, allowing the attackers to overcome ABN Amro’s two-factor authentication system by piggy-backing on a legitimate log-in.
Yet another reason to be vigilant with your email.
“Barclays PLC announced its $91-billion (U.S.) offer for ABN Amro Holding NV, a deal that would create a mammoth bank with 47 million customers.”
That’s a helluva lot of potential victims. Hopefully with all of that money sloshing around someone can float the poor buggers in IT Security a few bones to repair the security problems.
[tags]ABN Amro, Man in the Middle, Phishing[/tags]