Slovak company exposes malware targeting Russian firms

The Slovak IT company ESET has exposed an operation called Buhtrap, designed to target the financial departments of Russian firms, according to the TASR press agency. Cybercriminals were sending their victims e-mails containing malware-infested Word documents in attachments. The emails were either counterfeit invoices or contracts from Russian mobile phone operator MegaFon that tricked the victims into opening the files. The malware in question took advantage of Word vulnerability that was fixed three years ago. "We believe that this operation is financially motivated and its target is the financial departments of Russian firms", said ESET researcher Jean-Ian Boutin, adding that the name Buhtrap is derived from Russian word 'Buchgalter' (accountant) and English word 'trap'.