Cyber​​attacks that financial companies have suffered

Judging by some of the most well-known cyberattacks on banks in recent years, the main techniques and tools used by cybercriminals to attack financial companies are: Denial of Service DDoS, malicious codes in point of sale terminals or ATMs, exploiting vulnerabilities and even using tools for targeted attacks.

In addition, techniques such as watering hole began to be used, where websites are altered to carry out malicious activity, while users who usually visit the pages are unaware that they are facing a threat. Given the high number of computer crimes registered last year and the costs they generated, banks and other financial institutions have had to strengthen their cybersecurity mechanisms.

Financial institutions have been the main target of hackers, because they are the ones that move the money of companies and individuals. Even though this sector tends to have high cybersecurity measures compared to the rest of the industries, the attractiveness and value of the resources it protects, means that the interest in violating it is maintained significantly.

Known attacks on financial companies

Attacks targeting financial companies have been registered for several years. And events that have passed demonstrate the upward trend of these threats. And so we review some of the cyberattacks targeting the most important financial institutions in recent years.

▸Cyberattack ​​to Bangladesh bank

In this event, it is estimated that the cybercriminals stole 81 million dollars from a bank in Bangladesh by using malicious code detected by ESET as a variant of Win32 / Agent.XZH. Which is a highly complex code that presents sophisticated functionality and that allowed cybercriminals to access the messaging software used by more than 11,000 banks and financial institutions in more than 200 countries.

▸DDoS attacks on Greek banks

In 2015, the three Greek banks were the target of distributed denial of service or DDoS attacks where cybercriminals from the group calling themselves the Armada Collective demanded a ransom in bitcoins.

Now on this days, it is not surprising that cybercriminals never rest due to the benefits that they can acquire through cyber robberies and that is why banks or any institution that handles money are the most desired targets.

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