“PokerGrabber” Clients Get Hit By Russian Financial Malware

While the online poker industry might be facing setbacks in the United States, there are a number of other countries who encourage the online poker industry. Due to the large amounts being won online and the amount of online media coverage that online poker gets, the online poker industry has grown exponentially during the last few years.

However, even as the online poker industry has expanded, there has also been a rise in the number of frauds and threats to the online poker industry. Once such threat is an online virus that is known as the i2Ninja.

This is a relatively new but destructive malware product that comes from Russia and is used specifically to hit the online poker industry.

This malware leverage’s the I2P shadow internet to permit peer to peer communication (P2P) and then goes on to gain entry into users’ privately stored information. The malware is so well disguised that the creators of the virus even con the user into thinking that they will provide them with help desk support.

InfoSecurity Magazine recently addressed the issues being posed by this malware and stated:

While some malware offerings have offered an interface with a support team in the past (Citadel and Neosploit to name two), i2Ninja’s 24/7 secure help desk channel is a first.

The creators of the virus have obviously been exposed to online poker and know how to gain access. Based on information circulating on a Russian cybercrime forum, this malware permits buyers to collect information from forms and emails, especially “PokerGrabber”. This is significant because “PokerGrabber” is used by some of the most popular clients in the world. Some of these include the likes of Full Tilt Poker, Party Poker, PokerStars, Cake Poker, Titan Poker and 888poker.

One of the easiest ways to protect your system from this harmful malware is to ascertain the ways in which it gains entry and then take the necessary precautions. Dmitry Tarakanov, a malware researcher from Kaspersky Lab recently made a statement where he said that the malware would use some of the most common methods for gaining access. Tarakanov said that malware will make use of “usual methods” including

spam emails, drive-by-download attacks launched from websites infected with exploit kits and by direct installation through existing botnets.

Online poker players can take precautions by using a dedicated system, making sure their anti-virus is upto date and regularly running their anti-virus software to make sure that their computers are free from all malware and threats.