Personal computers in Japan and abroad have been infected with an aggressive online banking Trojan virus called ‘Vawtrak’ responsible for stealing millions of dollars, according to Tokyo police. 

The virus steals private information such as passwords while conducting online banking transactions. The money is then remitted to third-party accounts. Vawtrak was originally spotted in August 2013, that version stole details from several Windows email clients, the more recent have expanded their capabilities to include a wider range of theft. Among these capabilities are stealing banking credentials and credit card information.

Banking trojans remain one of the most prevalent kinds of malware. Among them, trojans based on Zeus have long been the most prevalent, but in recent months a relatively new trojan has been challenging the reign of Zeus: Vawtrak.

Also known as Neverquest or Snifula, Vawtrak initially targeted users of Japanese banking systems, but it has since broadened its scope. Earlier Sophos researcher looked at the malware's infection vector, as well how it targets banks and other financial institutions. Like a Russian Matryoshka doll, it consists of multiple layers, with each layer containing the next one until the final layer contains a malicious DLL.