The number of cyberattacks in online banking is constantly increasing. Financial institutions are putting more and more effort into protecting the money entrusted to them, but they still cannot completely eliminate data extortion and cybercrime. The service provider must return the money that flows illegally from bank customers' accounts. However, not everyone is aware of this.
Cybercriminals use increasingly sophisticated methods to transfer funds from other people's accounts without authorization. One of them is sending viruses and malicious software. It is enough to accept the license of a free and discreet program or click on an unreliable link to infect the software. Its involuntary installation allows unauthorized people to intercept data.
Phishing, I mean, The theft carried out by fake websites is also popular. The links that hide fake websites, are actually no different from the originals, are sent by email to online banking customers. Thanks to that, the hacker intercepts a complete set of information that allows them to make an unauthorized transfer. A form of phishing that is even more dangerous for the user and harder to detect is pharming. In this case, The client is redirected to a fake bank website even after entering a valid web address.
Traps of this type set up by cybercriminals are increasingly common. Their number will probably increase with the development of new technologies. But it is worth knowing that the responsibility for this type of crime does not fall solely on the shoulders of the victims, but is the result of poor protection or warnings appearing too late. Banks are required to demonstrate due diligence in order to ensure the safety of the money they hold.
In recent history, we can find high-level attacks such as the one received by Mexican banks, in 2015, three Greek banks received denial-of-service attacks (DDoS) where cybercriminals from the group calling themselves Armada Collective demanded ransom payment in bitcoins.
Already in 2016 the cybercriminals stole 81 millions of dollars from a bank in Bangladesh through the use of malicious code. It is a highly complex code that presents sophisticated functionality and allowed the cybercriminals to access the messaging software used by more than 11.000 banks and financial institutions from more than 200 countries known as SWIFT Alliance Access.
Through malware targeting Polish banks and institutions in Latin America, after attacking in Poland, it targeted institutions located in Mexico and Uruguay. The threat was stealthily sent through a watering hole attack, this is a trusted site that was infected in a way that redirected victims to a fraudulent page that concealed an exploit.
The list could be much longer, but I think with the previously mentioned sample we will understand that not even the most important banks are safe from cybercrime.