“The World’s Most Sophisticated Cyber Attack” – How Hackers Infiltrated The Banks & Stole Millions

“The World’s Most Sophisticated Cyber Attack” – How Hackers Infiltrated The Banks & Stole Millions (ZeroHedge, Feb 15, 2015):

Since late 2013, The NY Times reports that an unknown group of hackers has reportedly stolen $300 million ­- possibly as much as triple that amount – from banks across the world, with the majority of the victims in Russia. The attacks continue, all using roughly the same modus operandi

Hackers send email containing a malware program called Carbanak to hundreds of bank employees, hoping to infect a bank’s administrative computer.

How Hackers Infiltrated The Banks

Programs installed by the malware record keystrokes and take screen shots of the bank’s computers, so that hackers can learn bank procedures. They also enable hackers to control the banks’ computers remotely.

How Hackers Infiltrated The Banks2

By mimicking the bank procedures they have learned, hackers direct the banks’ computers to steal money in a variety of ways:

How Hackers Infiltrated The Banks3

Source: Kasperskly Labs

As The NY Times reports,

In late 2013, an A.T.M. in Kiev started dispensing cash at seemingly random times of day. No one had put in a card or touched a button. Cameras showed that the piles of money had been swept up by customers who appeared lucky to be there at the right moment.

But when a Russian cybersecurity firm, Kaspersky Lab, was called to Ukraine to investigate, it discovered that the errant machine was the least of the bank’s problems.

The bank’s internal computers, used by employees who process daily transfers and conduct bookkeeping, had been penetrated by malware that allowed cybercriminals to record their every move. The malicious software lurked for months, sending back video feeds and images that told a criminal group — including Russians, Chinese and Europeans — how the bank conducted its daily routines, according to the investigators.

Then the group impersonated bank officers, not only turning on various cash machines, but also transferring millions of dollars from banks in Russia, Japan, Switzerland, the United States and the Netherlands into dummy accounts set up in other countries.

In a report to be published on Monday, and provided in advance to The New York Times, Kaspersky Lab says that the scope of this attack on more than 100 banks and other financial institutions in 30 nations could make it one of the largest bank thefts ever — and one conducted without the usual signs of robbery.

Kaspersky Lab says it has seen evidence of $300 million in theft through clients, and believes the total could be triple that.

No bank has come forward acknowledging the theft…

The silence around the investigation appears motivated in part by the reluctance of banks to concede that their systems were so easily penetrated, and in part by the fact that the attacks appear to be continuing.

The managing director of the Kaspersky North America office in Boston, Chris Doggett, argued that the “Carbanak cybergang,” named for the malware it deployed, represents an increase in the sophistication of cyberattacks on financial firms.

“This is likely the most sophisticated attack the world has seen to date in terms of the tactics and methods that cybercriminals have used to remain covert,” Mr. Doggett said.

Mr. Doggett likened most cyberthefts to “Bonnie and Clyde” operations, in which attackers break in, take whatever they can grab, and run. In this case, Mr. Doggett said, the heist was “much more ‘Ocean’s Eleven.’ ”

“We found that many banks only check the accounts every 10 hours or so,” Mr. Golovanov of Kaspersky Lab said. “So in the interim, you could change the numbers and transfer the money.”

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7 thoughts on ““The World’s Most Sophisticated Cyber Attack” – How Hackers Infiltrated The Banks & Stole Millions”

  1. Boy, what a convenient story for the people who want to censor the web…………this is perfect for them. Where are the sources? Where is the evidence? This seems perfectly made for those who would censor and control the web.
    Is it just coincidence they are getting ready to rule on Net Neutrality any minute now?
    I cannot help but wonder………………………

    Reply
  2. Stanley, it is the timing I don’t trust. Right now, corrupt politicians are meeting to contemplate ways to censor the web. Right now, this month…….and I trust none of them.

    Reply
  3. False flag, false flag, false flag.

    What good are these guys if they can’t catch the people actually doing wrong. We have lost our freedom for this…and they want more. What exactly are they suppose to be doing anyway. By watching the net, they were going to be able to protect us. It’s not working.

    With out fear there is no tyranny. Till we live with out fear then they will be able to pull our strings like puppets.

    I hope the people see through the ruse.

    Reply
  4. We have seen the reports on the late night comedy shows how the “news” is scripted for all the stations to read. Well this seems like the same thing to me. Many of the governments in question are asking for the same kind of control of the internet at the same time If you don’t hear the news from anywhere else you would not know.

    That being said, we know who is giving out those stories for the press, but who is telling the leaders of all the major countries that we need this now. There is a dark force looming over us, they do not have our interests at heart!

    Reply

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