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BBC NEWS | Technology | Trojan virus steals banking info

The details of about 500,000 online bank accounts and credit and debit cards have been stolen by a virus described as “one of the most advanced pieces of crimeware ever created”.

In April 2007, researchers at Google discovered hundreds of thousands of web pages that initiated drive-by downloads. It estimated that one in ten of the 4.5 million pages it analysed were suspect.

Sophos researchers reported in 2008 it was finding more than 6,000 newly infected web pages every day, or about one every 14 seconds

The lab said no Russian accounts were hit by Sinowal.

“One of the key points of interest about this particular trojan is that it has existed for two and a half years quietly collecting information,” he said. “Any IT professional will tell you it costs a lot to maintain and to store the information it is gathering.

“The group behind it have made sure to invest in the infrastructure no doubt because the return and the potential return is so great.”