Hackers have stolen up to $1 billion from…
Hackers have stolen up to $1 billion from banks, security firm says
February 15, 2015 at 12:32 p.m.
NEW YORK — A hacking ring has stolen up to $1 billion from banks around the world in what would be one of the biggest banking breaches known, a cybersecurity firm says in a report scheduled to be delivered Monday.
The hackers have been active since at least the end of 2013 and infiltrated more than 100 banks in 30 countries, according to Russian security company Kaspersky Lab.
After gaining access to banks' computers through phishing schemes and other methods, they lurk for months to learn the banks' systems, taking screen shots and even video of employees using their computers, the company says.
Once the hackers become familiar with the banks' operations, they use that knowledge to steal money without raising suspicions. They program ATMs to dispense money at specific times or set up fake accounts and transfer money into them, according to Kaspersky.
The report is set to be presented Monday at a security conference in Cancun, Mexico. It was first reported by The New York Times.
The hackers seem to limit their theft to about $10 million before moving on to another bank, part of the reason why the fraud was not detected earlier, Kaspersky principal security researcher Vicente Diaz told The Associated Press. The attacks are unusual because they target the banks rather than the customers, Diaz said.
"In this case, they are not interested in information. They're only interested in the money," Diaz said. "They're flexible and quite aggressive and use any tool they find useful for doing whatever they want to do."
Most of the targets have been in Russia, the U.S., Germany, China and Ukraine, although the attackers may be expanding.