A Russian speaking hacking ring breaks into banks throughout the world. They steal a billion dollars. This isn’t a movie plot or TV pilot. This is real life.
According to cyber security company Kaspersky Lab, hackers stole a billion dollars from banks in Russia, United States and Europe. These cyber thefts have been going on since late 2013. They’ve hit up 100 banks in 30 countries, although the names of these banks haven’t been released, and they’re probably not even known. The hackers used phishing schemes, studying bank and ATM operations for months. Then they strike, programming ATMs, setting up fake accounts, gaining $10 million per bank, then moving on to their next target. Unlike many other hacks, their only interest is cash money, not credit/debit cards or other personal information. Unlike robbers, they target banking systems instead of people. Because they can move from bank to bank so quickly, that’s how they can accumulate so much money without getting caught. Then there’s the widespread geographic. Since late 2013, these cyber robbers targeted Russia, United States, Germany, and Ukraine, and these are the targets people know about. But there’s speculation this ring wants to expand to China and other parts of Asia, even the Middle East.
I hope authorities find out which banks have been targeted. That would help in solving this case. Don’t think just because they don’t target people that they’re less of a threat. That’s just a strategy they use to further evade the law. It seems everywhere you look, major targets are being hacked: Target, Home Depot, Anthem health insurance, Sony Pictures. This has to be at least the fourth blog I’ve written about cyber security in a matter of weeks. A few days ago, US President Barack Obama met with technology leaders in Silicon Valley to combat this ever increasing threat to us all. And believe me, this is a threat to us all. What if hackers get into electric and nuclear and military systems and shut them all down? What do we do then?