PRESS: Hackers debut in attacking bank in Russia via SWIFT

MOSCOW, Dec 19 (PRIME) -- Russia has witnessed a successful attack allegedly by hacker group Cobalt on one of its banks with money being withdrawn abroad through the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunications (SWIFT) system for the first time, business daily Kommersant reported on Tuesday.

Similar attacks have already occurred in the world, but in this case not SWIFT could be a vulnerable spot, but the bank, whose name sources kept secret, but said that a recent scrutiny by the central bank revealed problems with information security in the attacked organization.

A central bank spokesperson confirmed that the successful attack took place on December 15, while no further details were officially disclosed.

Group-IB, one of the global leaders in preventing and investigating high-tech crimes and online fraud, said that group Cobalt is involved in the case. Hackers penetrated the bank via malware, which was sent out by the group to banks several weeks ago, which is characteristic of Cobalt.

On average, a period of time from penetration to a money withdrawal counts three to four weeks, and an average stolen amount is at 100 million rubles, a Group-IB spokesperson said.

FinCERT, an information security arm of the central bank, said in its report that Cobalt is the main threat for credit organizations. According to Group-IB, Cobalt has on its record at least 50 successful attacks on banks on the global scale.

(58.6940 rubles – U.S. $1)

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