JPMorgan Chase and at least four other banks were struck by hackers in a series of coordinated attacks this month. At least one of those breaches has been linked to Russian hackers, according to the FBI.
The FBI is investigating whether the hacks are in retaliation for U.S.-imposed sanctions on Russia, Bloomberg reports. But the New York Times reports that it is unclear if the attacks were financialy motivated or if the hackers were collected intelligence as part of an espionage effort.
The skill of these hackers goes beyond ordinary cyber criminals, Bloomberg reports, as most thefts of financical information involve retailers. Stealing data from big banks is rare because such enterprises have elaborate firewalls. The hackers gained entry through a software flaw known as zero-day, which allows thieves to take remote control of a computer. The hackers then navigated through layers of elaborate security to steal checking and savings account information. Sensitive informtion was stolen from employees' computers as well.
Thursday morning, JPMorgan spokeswoman Patricia Wexler said the bank has taken additional steps to safeguard sensitive and confidential information, and that the company will contact customers who may have been affected. "We have multiple layers of defense to counteract any threats and constantly monitor fraud levels," she said at a press conference, but declined to give examples of the bank's increased security.
Earlier this month, a Russian crime ring hacked 1.2 billion usernames and passwords belonging to more than 500 million email addresses.
PricewaterhouseCoopers, in its "U.S. Cybercrime: Rising Risks, Reduced Readiness" report includes results from the U.S. State of Cybercrime survey. In the banking and finance industry, respondents reported the following significant incidences:
No incidents – 20%
Identify theft – 20%
Customer records compromised or stolen – 23%
Financial losses – 23%
Denial of service attacks – 29%
Financial fraud – 36%
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