A multinational gang of cyber criminals has stolen as much as $1 billion from as many as 100 financial institutions around the world in about two years, Russian computer security company Kaspersky Lab said on Saturday.\u00a0The company said it was working with Interpol, Europol and authorities from different countries to try to uncover more details on what it being called an unprecedented robbery, reports Reuters.
\nThe gang, which Kaspersky dubbed Carbanak, takes the unusual approach of stealing directly from banks, rather than posing as customers to withdraw money from companies\u2019 or individuals\u2019 accounts. It said the gang included cyber criminals from Europe, including Russia and Ukraine, as well as China.
\nCarbanak used carefully crafted emails to trick pre-selected employees into opening malicious software files, a common technique known as spear phishing. They were then able to get into the internal network and track down administrators\u2019 computers for video surveillance.
\nIn this way, Kaspersky said, the criminals learned how the bank clerks worked and could mimic their activity when transferring the money.
\nIn some cases, Carbanak inflated account balances before pocketing the extra funds through a fraudulent transaction. Because the legitimate funds were still there, the account holder would not suspect a problem.
\nKaspersky said Carbanak also remotely seized control of ATMs and ordered them to dispense cash at a predetermined time, when a gang member would be waiting to collect the money.
\n\u2018These attacks again underline the fact that criminals will exploit any vulnerability in any system,\u2019 Sanjay Virmani, director of Interpol Digital Crime Centre, said in a statement prepared by Kaspersky. \u2018It also highlights the fact that no sector can consider itself immune to attack and must constantly address their security procedures.\u2019<\/p>\n

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A multinational gang of cyber criminals has stolen as much as $1 billion from as many as 100 financial institutions around the world in about two years, Russian computer security company Kaspersky Lab said on Saturday.\u00a0The company said it was working with Interpol, Europol and authorities from different countries to try to uncover more details … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_editorskit_title_hidden":false,"_editorskit_reading_time":0,"_editorskit_is_block_options_detached":false,"_editorskit_block_options_position":"{}","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n