'Gozi' Virus Creators Charged By FBI With Stealing Millions From Online Bank Customers

Federal authorities announced Wednesday they had disrupted a massive cybercrime ring, charging three alleged hackers with using "one of the most financially destructive computer viruses in history" to steal millions of dollars from banks around the world.

Authorities said the three alleged hackers -- Nikita Kuzmin, Mihai Paunescu and Deniss Calovskis – played roles in a “far-reaching and devastating" scheme that used a computer virus to infect at least one million computers, including 40,000 in the United States. Among the victims were businesses and government entities, including NASA, authorities said.

The hackers disguised the virus, dubbed "Gozi," by making it look like an innocent PDF document, authorities said. But when victims opened it, the file secretly installed malicious software on their computers and began siphoning their bank account numbers, usernames and passwords. The hackers used that data to transfer funds out of the victims’ accounts, resulting in the theft of "tens of millions of dollars," authorities said.