Computer Virus Attacks Cobb County Woman

A notorious computer virus responsible for millions of dollars in thefts all over the world is now suspected in a Cobb County attack.

Experts believe the business manager at a local church is the victim of a Russian hacker -- and other metro computer users could be at risk.

Due West United Methodist Church is the latest target of an ungodly virus with the godly name Zeus.

Fran Kirby was on Wachovia’s Web site, but experts said she could have been the customer of any bank.

After she logged on, she thought the bank was doing a security check so she typed in a string of personal information. Minutes later, she called the bank.

“The guy on the other end said it was the Zeus virus and I said, ‘Zeus virus?’ I’d never heard of that,” said Kirby.

Zeus is a program that’s installed on your computer. You don’t know it’s being installed. You might be surfing the Web and it’ll be installed automatically.

Don Jackson is a cyber threat expert at SecureWorks in Dunwoody. He actually tracked the origin of the Zeus virus to a hacker in Russia. The program sits on your computer until you sign on to a financial site and then a fake page fakes you out.

“What they want to do is get some choice pieces of information they don’t already have – typically an ATM PIN number or a Social Security number,” said Jackson.

A hacker used the same virus to steal $6 million from U.S. banks in 2008.

Kirby has closed her accounts, but with her Social Security number exposed, she’s still at risk.

“That information is out there and it’s always going to be out there and she’ll be targeted in future attacks to see if they can update the information on her,” said Jackson.

“It really has brought home that there are some real evil people out there,” said Kirby.

Jackson said the best way to protect your financial business online is to surf with one computer and to buy a second computer only for finances.