Reworked Zeus (Zbot) Variation Seeking Available Instagram Usernames to Sell Off Accounts

In the quest for computer hackers and cybercrooks alike to find world domination, they must conjure up a unique scheme that trumps all others done in the past that have not fared so well. As it seems, cybercrooks have done just that as RSA experts have identified a new version of the famous Zeus Trojan used in 419 scams, one being the ability to use compromised systems to check for available of Instagram usernames.

You are probably wonder and drawing your conclusion already as to how available Instragram usernames has anything to do with the Zeus malware and compromised computers. It turns out that the latest variant of Zeus is setup to eventually use Instagram to create an army of fake users so it can be setup to be sold as followers to individuals or organizations that want to boost popularity.

In today's social media-driven Internet world, popularity is a highly sought-after aspect and people even have issues with instant gratification on social mediums. It is almost like an epidemic for people to want acceptance and popularity on social networks like Instagram. By utilizing Zeus to check for available usernames on Instagram, it can harbor an abundance of accounts and later use them to do whatever the cybercrooks piloting the scheme want.

The choice for Zeus collecting Instagram usernames and accounts instead of any other social media outlet is to have Instagram API calls pushed into the network by spoofing User-Agent strings so traffic can be disguised as something like a Smartphone running Android. This method is applicable for infected servers and virtual machines running Windows operating systems.

Zeus (Zbot or Zeus Botnet) was once known for having the exclusive functions of attacking online banking intuitions leading to theft of money from various compromised accounts. Zeus was also the culprit in password-stealing dilemmas rooting out of other botnets. Now it seems hackers have taken a much higher road using new-found sophistication within Zeus' new programming to attack social networks.

Although researchers only have their strong suspicion as to the reasons for Zeus abusing Instrgram accounts like this, it is still not a 100% certain prediction for the malware to carry out such actions. Other capabilities of the latest sophistication added to Zeus include the ability to automatically like photos posted on Instagram accounts. That in itself leads us to believe that other researcher's conclusive idea of Zeus peddling Instagram accounts around could lead to the sale of these ‘collected' accounts at a later date.