form grabber

A form grabber is a type of malware that captures data such as IDs and passwords from browser forms.

The target of a form grabber is the user’s Internet banking information. Form grabbers typically gain access as a Trojan horse. Once running on a host machine, a form grabber detects Internet banking login information as it is being entered into a form, along with other identifying information that will help the software masquerade as a customer.

The form grabber often stores the stolen information for easy access and also sends it back to a parent server, where it may be added to a database. The information may be used immediately for banking fraud or sold to other parties.

A form grabber may be a component of a more complex piece of malware such as Hand of Thief. Internet banking crimeware is one of the largest and fastest-growing types of malware threats. Such malware affects most common operating systems (OS) and Web browsers.