CBI issues alert on banking trojan 'Cerberus' that exploits COVID-19 pandemic to steal financial data

Representative Image

The Central Bureau of Investigation has issued an alert to central agencies, state governments and Union Territories relating to a banking Trojan virus. The virus, known as Cerberus, infects smartphones through coronavirus updates. The alert issued was based on inputs received from Interpol.

The Trojan lures smartphone users into downloading malicious links related to COVID-19 and then infects their devices, exposing them to phishing activities. As per the CBI, the banking Trojan sends SMS messages to lure users into downloading the link containing the malicious software.

CBI has issued an alert relating to a banking Trojan known as Cerberus. This software takes advantage of COVID-19 Pandemic and send SMS to download embedded malicious link, trick users into installing it on their smartphones. The Trojan steal financial data, credit card numbers.

— vijay singh (@vijayVsinghTOI) May 19, 2020

Officials claim that Cerberus uses this malicious software to primarily steal financial data such as credit card numbers from a user’s phone. It can use overall attacks to deceive victims into providing professional information. Additionally, Cerberus can also be used to capture two-factor authentication details.