When it comes to protecting online accounts, multi-factor authentication—especially the use of tokens—has been considered the strongest protection against password theft and account takeover. A recent article from the NY Times, How Hackers Snatch Real-Time Security ID Numbers, explains the lengths that online criminals will go to in order to steal personal information and takeover accounts.

In the article, they explain a scenario involving an infection called the Clampi trojan, but the success of an account theft or takeover isn’t dependent on any specific trojan. All it takes is some method of infecting a computer in order to provide real time data from that computer back to the online criminal. The NY Times article details the way a trojan spreads and watches for ideal account targets. (more…)