Despite highly publicized cybercriminal attacks against businesses and the ongoing rise of malware perpetrated through schemes such as the Mariposa botnet recently dismantled by Panda Security and others, the majority of small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) are not familiar with the banking Trojans used to attain access to and steal from their online accounts.
The following statistics are some key findings from an independent survey released today by Panda Security of more than 300 executives and finance professionals from SMBs across 38 industry sectors in the United States.
- 63 percent of SMBs worry about cyber theft, yet lack knowledge on how to protect their businesses
- More than 10 percent suffered at least one incident of online fraud or identity theft resulting from attacks such as Mariposa
- 37 percent of victims were fully reimbursed by banks
Conducted throughout January 2010, the study found that 52 percent of those surveyed had little or no familiarity with banking Trojans, the criminal software used to facilitate unauthorized access to a user’s online banking account. Despite the lack of understanding about malware threats, the majority of respondents (63 percent) remain concerned about online banking fraud or identity theft in their organizations.
Download the full report here: The Effect of Banking Trojans on Small and Medium-Sized Businesses 
Panda Security specializes in the development of endpoint security products and is part of the WatchGuard portfolio of IT security solutions. Initially focused on the development of antivirus software, the company has since expanded its line of business to advanced cyber-security services with technology for preventing cyber-crime.
2 comments
Our firm has been trying to inform the banking community of the this very problem for 2 years. Sadly, none of them have shown any interest in sharing client-side security solutions with their customers or credit union members. We hear all the time “We’re not responsible for malware on our customers’ computers.” Yet, the financial institutions have to eat part of the losses.
How bad does the problem have to get before FIs develop a partnership security program with their customers that includes offering low cost software protection of not only access credentials but protection from cyber thieves once they’ve entered into their online accounts?