Security experts are warning of a new Trojan — Ares — that could hit computer systems any day now.
According to an article posted at SearchSecurity.com, Ares is similar to Zeus in that it is easily modified to adapt to a variety of targets.
G Data Security Labs discovered the new Trojan and is sounding the early warning bells for a reason, per the SearchSecurity piece by Ron Condon:
[T]he Ares developer — whose identity remains unknown — has authored a free software development kit for the Trojan. The kit is intended for so-called “trustworthy developers,” provided that they pay the Ares developer a licence fee when subsequent modules are sold to third parties.
In their release regarding the Trojan, G Data reported:
The developer of Ares even talked about the new malware in an underground forum. According to the author Ares is, “not focused on banking. Every copy of Ares is unique to its customer and it has the same banking capabilities as Zeus & SpyEye which can be added provided the customer wants it. I actually consider this more of a platform which is customized to each buyers liking.”
Right now, it is uncertain who or what is being targeted by Ares.
Nor is it the only new Trojan making the rounds. We recently reported on another Trojan aimed at banks and financial informations, Feodo.
