In the biggest cyber bank robbery in history, over 60 million euros (over 74 million dollars) were stolen from 60 banks.
Biggest Cyber Bank Robbery in History – photo by sovereignman.com
According to Sky News, the biggest cyber bank robbery in history stole over 74 million dollars from 60 different banks across the world. The hackers automated malicious software program that used servers to process thousands of attempted thefts from both commercial firms and private individuals, where the stolen money was then sent to mule accounts in caches of a few hundreds and 100,000 euro.
According to the report by software security firm McAfee and Guardian Analytics, “The fraudsters’ objective in these attacks is to siphon large amounts from high balance accounts, hence the name chosen for this research – Operation High Roller. If all of the attempted fraud campaigns were as successful as the Netherlands example we describe in this report, the total attempted fraud could be as high as 2bn euro.”
According to Sky News defence and security editor Sam Kiley, these attacks differ from normal cyber banking attacks:
“What they have done differently from routine attacks is that they have got into the bank servers and constructed software that is automated. It can get around some of the mechanisms that alert the banking system to abnormal activity.”
All money institutions, such as credit unions, large multinational banks and regional, banks have all been attacked by this automatic software program. However, McAfee researchers have been able to track the servers involved in global fraud, which still continues, across countries and continents, where the majority of the attacks have been coming from Russia. They also have singled out one alone that has been used to steal 60m euro. Yet, according to Kiley, the fraud continues as, “There are dozens of servers still grinding away at this fraud – in effect stealing money.”
Biggest Cyber Bank Robbery in History: Over 74 Million Dollars Stolen.
