Hackers Hit Major ATM Network

A previously undetected group of Russian-language hackers silently stole nearly $10 million from at least 18 mostly US and Russian banks in recent years by targeting interbank transfer systems, a Moscow-based security firm said on Monday, Reuters reported. Group-IB warned that the attacks, which began 18 months ago and allow money to be robbed from bank automated teller machines, appear to be ongoing and that banks in Latin America could be targeted next. The first attack occurred in the spring of 2016 against First Data’s “STAR” network, the largest US bank transfer messaging system connecting ATMs at more than 5,000 organizations, Group-IB researchers said in a 36-page report. The firm said it was continuing to investigate a number of incidents where hackers studied how to make money transfers through the SWIFT banking system, while stopping short of saying whether any such attacks had been carried out successfully. SWIFT said in October that hackers were still targeting its interbank messaging system.