Leak of ZeusVM malware building tool might cause botnet surge

The Internet could see a new wave of botnets based on the ZeusVM banking Trojan after the tools needed to build and customize the malware program were published online for free.

The source code for the builder and control panel of ZeusVM version 2.0.0.0 was leaked sometime in June, according to a malware research outfit called Malware Must Die (MMD). The leak was kept under wraps by the researchers as they tried to stop the files from becoming widely available, an effort that ultimately exceeded their resources.

As a result, the group decided to go public with the information Sunday in order to alert the whole security community so that mitigation strategies can be developed.

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