Australians' banking passwords stolen by malware
- 13 hours ago
- 3 min read
Australians' banking passwords stolen by malware
A local cybersecurity company reported that between 2021 and 2025, over 30,000 Australian banking passwords were compromised after hackers used infostealer malware to infect devices.
Research conducted by the Sydney-based company Dvuln revealed that this malware has been utilized to target and collect credentials from devices of customers of major Australian banks, including the Big Four: ANZ, NAB, Westpac, and the Commonwealth Bank.
Security experts report that the compromised banking information of over 30,000 Australians has been discovered online.
According to research by the Australian tech security company Dvuln, the compromised data, spanning the last four years, is linked to "multiple major banks".
However, instead of being stolen directly from the banks, these credentials were taken from customers' devices by criminals employing "infostealer malware infections".
The information of customers from Australia's big four banks, including Commonwealth Bank, NAB, ANZ and Westpac was among the details found.
Dvuln cautions that multi-factor authentication, now widely used for accessing banking apps or websites, is "not a complete defense".
"The infections focused on individual user devices, collecting their credentials instead of directly compromising banking infrastructure," the report stated.
It emphasized the need for "coordinated" efforts from financial institutions, government, cybersecurity experts, and the public "to bridge the gap between endpoint compromise and financial exploitation".
Australians' banking passwords stolen by malware
The report highlighted that infostealer malware, a type of malicious software, is "one of the most pervasive yet underreported threats facing Australia's financial sector."
Anna Bligh, CEO of the Australian Banking Association, confirmed that the issue involves data accessed from personal devices like phones and laptops, not from any breach of bank security systems.
"Ensuring customer security online is the top priority for Australia's banks," Bligh stated.
"Banks continue to invest in security defenses to help keep customers safe, including utilizing advanced intelligence systems to monitor both open and dark web sources for compromised customer credentials.
If a bank detects that a customer's credentials may be compromised, they take measures to secure the account and advise on preventing further activity.
"If customers have concerns about their account details, they should contact their bank as soon as possible."
CommBank also advised customers to create unique, strong passwords and change them regularly, install and maintain reputable anti-virus software, monitor their accounts, enable transaction notifications, and contact them if they notice suspicious activity.
A spokesperson from the Australian Signals Directorate (ASD) stated the agency is "persistently working to counter the cybercriminal threat targeting Australia."
"Cybercriminals use information-stealing malware to steal and exploit valid user credentials and system information, then resell this information for monetary gain," the ASD spokesperson said.
"Cybercriminals are using information stealers to undermine the security and wellbeing of Australian organizations.
"Information stealers pose a serious problem as they provide cybercriminals with legitimate user credentials, which could lead to gaining initial access against other targets."
The government agency Australia Signals Directorate, part of Australia's national security community, received over 87,400 cybercrime reports in 2023-24.
The most common was identity fraud.
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