Yes, it is true that we are in an age of information, but what happens when it used at humanity’s detriment?
A federal grand jury recently indicted three men who allegedly attempted to illegally withdrawal more than $15 million in a series of coordinated attacks. Oleksiy Sharapka, 33, and Leonid Yanovitsky, 39, both of the Ukraine, and Richard Gundersen, 47, of Brooklyn, were believed to be the hackers responsible for breaking the defenses of CitiGroup, JP Morgan, and 13 other institutions of finance.
The three hackers have been charged in the indictment with identity theft, aggravated identity theft, conspiracy to commit access device fraud, and conspiracy to commit wire fraud, according to U.S. Attorney Paul Fishman. The Russian duo and their Brooklyn counterpart infiltrated the networks of the banks, siphoned off gigabytes of data, which included delicate informations (checking and savings account), and have left authorities wondering why the cyber attacks even took place.
In the past few weeks, as more and more news has been revealed, it seems that JP Morgan has taken the brunt of the attack. According to The New York Times, 76 million households and businesses were intruded upon in what has quickly become one of the most serious violations of internet sanctity in American history. At a time where U.S. citizen’s confidence in business has been shaken (hackings at Target, Home Depot), the valued information we’ve cherished is being severely compromised on our watch.
With that in mind, check out 10 financial institutions that have been cracked by hackers. We hope that you do your best to protect yourself and your information at all times. Please check out this list on the next pages …
JP Morgan
Could it be retaliation for the sanctions America imposed on Russia this year? Is it because Russia aims to develop a new form of cyber attack against Americans? Whatever the case may be, JP Morgan Chase had 76 million accounts hacked, which is a tally that dwarfs previous estimates by the bank.
While the person’s responsible have been detained, Washington intelligence wonders if this means that their digital defenses aren’t enough to stop a hack. The breach set off alarms in all areas of the financial industry, as all attention has focused on the vulnerability of America’s digital vaults.
Bank Of America
Cyber hacktivist supergroup, Anonymous, found itself under the bright lights of scrutiny when a
subgroup Par:AnoIA (Anonymous Intelligence Agency) stole data from Bank of America. The hackers then would go on to leak “secrets” about Bank of America executives, their salaries, and possible shady activities. BoA actually left themselves open to an attack since Anonymous collected said data via an open, insecure server.PNC
The bank might not have lost a lot of information or even money, but that might’ve been thanks to their proactive cyber security team. The Pittsburgh, PA headquartered financial institution sent out a message to some five million customers warning of a possible cyber attack. The word was received as the site only experienced down times and no serious thefts were indicated.
Fifth Third Bank
Northeastern Ohio’s own Fifth Third Bank founds its customers calling attention through Twitter to an attempt to bypass security measures. As they kept tweeting and retweeting that they were unable to access the bank’s website through computer or mobile, Fifth Third responded using social media, tweeting, “We’re assessing delays on 53.com, which may have impacted mobile access.” The company suffered numerous “Denial of Service” cyber attacks back in 2013.
KeyCorp Bank
The town of Tonawanda experienced a hack significantly impacting two dozen KeyBank card users and a few from Amherst, New York. Police found that the fraud stemmed possibly from a breach at a prominent local fast-food restaurant, known as Ted’s Jumbo Red Hots.
Citigroup
3,400 customers had their credit card information hacked and suffered about $2.7 million in losses, according to Citigroup Inc. The New York company first disclosed the incident back in May 2011 and indicated quickly and profusely that it would cover any losses, saying customers wouldn’t be liable for the cyber attack.
E-Trade
Earlier this year, the online trading system shut down much to the frustration of customers. The popular site was down and users had problems attempting to sell shares. With individuals unable to access the site at all, E-Trade managed to lose out on a lot of money by being hacked and temporarily disabled.
TD Ameritrade Corp.
The online brokerage company was hacked and had its contact information for more than 6.3 million customers stolen. TD Ameritrade, an Omaha-based company, admitted that the sensitive information in their database had been lost and mentioned that Social Security numbers and account numbers, were not taken.
In a strange twist of events, the company didn’t let anyone know just when the hack took place, because it was still looking into the theft at the time. Since then, there hasn’t been any clearly defined detail as to what happened with Ameritrade.
U.S. Defense Department’s Defense Finance and Accounting Service
In addition to Citibank, E-Trade, and the like, hackers infiltrated the U.S. Department of Defense, Defense Finance and Accounting Service as well. Once they obtained the unauthorized access, the hackers then transferred funds from themselves to bank accounts and rolled cash into pre-paid debit cards they controlled.
The fraudulence didn’t end there as the hackers began a serious cash-out operation, which employed members outside the criminal circle. Funds were withdrawn via ATM in New York, Massachusetts, Illinois, and Georgia. No word on whether those affected were recouped by the U.S. government.
Nordstrom Bank
In Aventura, Florida, police noticed via Nordstrom Security that suspects were attempting to insert hardware keystroke loggers to skim information about Nordstrom’s customer base. Placed between keyboards and the cash register terminals, the report notes that had the hackers put the information inside the full-service POS provider and attempted to bridge the gap between the customer’s money and Nordstrom’s cash register.