Cybercrime Ring Steals Up To $1 Billion from Banks: Kaspersky Lab - Reuters

Reuters, by Joseph Menn

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.

The 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.

The gang, which Kaspersky dubbed Carbanak, takes the unusual approach of stealing directly from banks, rather than posing as customers to withdraw money from companies’ or individuals’ accounts. It said the gang included cyber criminals from Europe, including Russia and Ukraine, as well as China.

Carbanak 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' computers for video surveillance. Read more.