Chat In the Middle Online Banking Threat

Here's a press release from Beacon Software celebrating their new "Live Chat" for Online Banking.  Problem is, "Chat-in-the-Middle attacks are the newest form of online banking Trojans.  Here's an excerpt from their press release along with some information from a new RSA Report highlighting Chat-in-the-Middle attacks,



Live Chat Added to Online Banking Platform for Community Financial Institutions

Thu Oct 15, 2009 - PIN Payments News Blog - MARIETTA, Ga.--(Business Wire)-- Beacon Software, a Georgia company specializing in online banking services and software targeted to community financial institutions, announced today that it has added a comprehensive Live Chat capability to their popular Compass Internet Banking Platform. "While most of the very largest U.S. banks currently offer Live Chat, it is typically not available in the online offerings used by the smaller, tier three community banks and credit unions," said Beacon Software president Jack Fullen. "This new functionality gives users and visitors to our customers` banking websites an opportunity to receive immediate online assistance to explain product options and answer support related questions, precisely when they need it



Editor's Note:  Oops! RSA report highlights new "Chat-in-the-Middle" threat

The latest RSA AFCC report highlights a new, unique phishing attack called "Chat-in-the-Middle".  It is targeted against online banking customers and it is executed through routine means but then presents a more advanced layer of perpetrating online fraud. The phishing attack may dupe bank customers into entering their usernames and passwords into an ordinary phishing site but the addition of a bogus live chat support window can obtain even more credentials via a live chat session initiated by fraudsters.



During the live chat session, the fraudster behind the attack presents himself as a representative of the bank's fraud department and attempts to dupe customers who are online into divulging sensitive information - such as answers to secret questions that are used for online customer authentication. This attack is currently targeting a single US-based financial institution.