Tigger virus targets online stock trades

SPRINGFIELD -- A new computer virus has a funny name but it's the same ol' game.

Now the online crooks have spread a bug to steal your investments as you trade. It's called Tigger.

You may remember Tigger the cartoon character singing, "The wonderful thing about Tiggers is, Tiggers are wonderful things!" Well, the new Tigger that's bouncing around isn't wonderful at all. It's a computer virus that targets stock trades.

"This isn't so fun, no. These guys are really getting creative," said Doug Pitt, owner of Service World Computer Center.

Instead of just creating a nuisance on your computer, the virus goes after your finances on sites like E-trade, ING Direct ShareBuilder, Vanguard, Options Xpress, Scottrade, and Ameritrade. It records a user's key strokes to get vital information like usernames and passwords.

"Obviously, with that kind of access, they can do a lot of damage," said Pitt.

"I trade through Ameri-Trade and through Think or Swim, which is getting ready to merge with Ameritrade," said stock trader Bryan Harding.

He's a day trader, and uses stock trading Web sites every day.

"At the end of any day, you don't have any possessions. You have bought and sold, and flattened out, as they call it, by the end of the day," said Harding.

He does what he can to avoid viruses like Tigger.

"I'll do a firewall, a spyware program, and anti-virus as well," Harding said.

But the big problems with Tigger.A is, after a month, only one of the 37 major anti-virus products detected it, and it actually removes other viruses that could wave the red flag.

"They want you to get a clean bill of health so, obviously, you think everything's great," said Pitt.

Of course, for struggling investors, Tigger is the last thing they need.

"It could be a big problem, since a lot of those folks have already taken a 40- or 50-percent hit in the last year, and to lose that last 40 or 50 percent would be a pretty big deal," said Harding.

"I don't think they have their arms around Tigger exactly," said Pitt.

To protect yourself from any viruses, Pitt suggests keeping up on your anti-virus sofware and Microsoft patches. He says probably the most important way you can keep yourself protected while trading or banking online is to use a limited user account.

Here's how you can set that up on your own computer: - go to Start, then Control Panel
- click User Accounts
- click Create a new account
- name the account
- click Limited
- finally click Create Account

Using a limited user account will not allow you to add or remove programs like an administrator account would, so Pitt says logging in to that limited account for banking and trading would provide some protection from viruses.

Source: Ky3.com

I cannot find any coverage as of yet from a Major News agency:

I did find this link:

Tigger.A Trojan Quietly Steals Stock Traders' Data



More to come...