A Crime of the Future
(1) In 2015, British banks lost tens of millions of pounds after a gang of Russian-based hackers spent two years orchestrating the largest cybercrime that has ever been uncovered. As much as £650 million is thought to have gone missing after the gang used computer viruses to infect networks in more than 100 financial institutions worldwide. The hackers managed to get into the bank’s internal computer systems using malware, which remained in the networks for months, gathering information and feeding it back to the gang. The illegal software was so sophisticated that it allowed the criminals to view video feeds from within ‘secure’ offices, as they gathered the data they needed to steal. Once they were ready to strike, they were able to impersonate bank staff online in order to transfer millions of pounds into fake accounts. They were even able to instruct ATMs to dispense money at random times of the day, even without a bank card.
(2) While the criminals behind the audacious electronic raid are thought to be based in Russia, the scale of their crime was truly global with banks in Japan, China, the United States and throughout Europe having been hit. The scam was uncovered by the Russian cybersecurity firm, Kaspersky Lab, which was called in to investigate after a cash machine in Ukraine was found to have been spitting out money at random times.
(3) As investigators began to look into the problem, they were astounded by the scale of the crime they uncovered. A spokesman for Kaspersky Lab said that the plot marked the beginning of a new stage in the evolution of cybercriminal activity, where malicious users steal money directly from banks, and avoid targeting end users. It is thought the largest sums were stolen in electronic raids where hackers would break into the computer system of a bank and transfer tens of millions of pounds in one go. Another method the criminals used was to gain access to someone’s account and inflate the balance many times over. They would then withdraw the amount they had increased it by and the person would never suspect because their original balance remained the same.
Adapted from an article written by Martin Evans on Telegraph website