As cybercriminals attack Russia, hackers have flooded the dark web with stolen credit card numbers from Russia’s biggest bank.
According to Cyberint research, the card information of 113 476 Sberbank customers has leaked onto the dark web. Fraudsters are selling them the details.
This number is nearly 10 times that of the illicit sites before the conflict.
Since Vladimir Putin’s war, Sberbank was hit with international sanctions. This has made Sberbank more vulnerable to hackers, according to cyber experts. It is easier to trick distracted staff to share sensitive information.
The Telegraph reported the British Government’s plan for Sberbank to be subjected to sanctions in February.
Since then, its operations have been in sharp decline throughout Europe. Due to sanctions, the lender’s Austrian division was the first Russian financial institution that collapsed. Sberbank is also closing its London investment bank.
Anonymous hacking group claims that the Russian leader has been attacked in the last few days. It also suffered major website outages and so-called “DDoS” attacks.
Sberbank stated that it had resisted the largest DDoS attack ever launched against it on 6 May.
Professor Alan Woodward is a cyber expert at the University of Surrey. He said that “Sberbank’s state of flux is causing a lot of problems and that one of the most significant things is the socially-engineered attacks against employees.” Banks are currently changing many things, and employees will not be used to that.
It would be much easier for someone to trick them into giving their login details. They could call up pretending to be someone else or send a phishing mail. In a chaotic environment, it’s easier to fool someone.
It’s hard to believe that there is a political motive behind this criminal activity. This is a clear indication that hackers are realizing their goal.
British banks were warned that they may also be the target of politically motivated cyber attacks. The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), has written to large lenders’ chief executives to warn them that they could be the target of cyberattacks as retaliation for sanctions against Russian companies.
Charlie Nunn, chief executive at Lloyds, stated that the company is on “heightened alert for a Russian cyberattack.”
Professor Woodward stated that the National Cyber Security Centre had been extremely proactive in all this and warned of an imminent attack.
“If a bank is attacked and these details are leaked, real people can suffer financial losses. Card fraud is often overlooked, but it’s one of the most costly aspects of cybercrime.
All of this is one bank’s greatest nightmare. You would take your business elsewhere if your card details were stolen. Banks hold sensitive information about you, including financial information. It would be a disaster if that information was lost.
