Monday, February 04, 2008
Surge in U.S., Canadian Bank Hacking Incidents
Surge in U.S., Canadian Bank Hacking Incidents
PR Newswire
Aug 07 2007 : North American banks experienced an 81 percent increase in hacking attacks in the first six months of 2007 versus the last six months of 2006, according to U.S-based IT security firm SecureWorks. During the same period, hacking attacks against North American credit unions rose by 62 percent.
SecureWorks’ data is based on actual attacks against its North American banking and credit union clients. "In June 2006 to December of 2006, we were blocking attacks from approximately 808 hackers per bank per month," Allen Wilson, VP of Research for SecureWorks, says in a statement. "Since the beginning of 2007 up until June, the average number of hackers launching attacks at each of our banks is 1,462.”
A SecureWorks spokesperson tells ePaynews that attacks against financial institutions outside North America are also likely to have increased between the last half of 2006 and the first six months of 2007.
Wilson said that in the last half of 2006, SecureWorks was blocking attacks against its North American credit union clients from 1,110 hackers per credit union per month. “That number has risen to 1,799 hackers per credit union per month," he says.
In the last 30 days alone, SecureWorks blocked a total of 167 million hacker attacks against banks and credit unions, the company says.
"Most of the hackers we see stealing financial data are located in Russia and Eastern Europe,” Wilson says. “However, we are witnessing a growing number coming out of China. These countries have large numbers of talented young people who are extremely computer literate.”
According to Wilson, hackers are attracted by the minimal risks that they face in perpetrating crimes against financial institutions.
"The amount of stolen financial data we have found since the first of the year has been daunting," Don Jackson, a security researcher for SecureWorks, says. "We are finding new caches of stolen data everyday, evidence that more andmore criminals are getting into the game." According to Johnson, these data caches contained thousands of bank account and credit card numbers, social security numbers, online payment accounts and user names and passwords.
PR Newswire
Aug 07 2007 : North American banks experienced an 81 percent increase in hacking attacks in the first six months of 2007 versus the last six months of 2006, according to U.S-based IT security firm SecureWorks. During the same period, hacking attacks against North American credit unions rose by 62 percent.
SecureWorks’ data is based on actual attacks against its North American banking and credit union clients. "In June 2006 to December of 2006, we were blocking attacks from approximately 808 hackers per bank per month," Allen Wilson, VP of Research for SecureWorks, says in a statement. "Since the beginning of 2007 up until June, the average number of hackers launching attacks at each of our banks is 1,462.”
A SecureWorks spokesperson tells ePaynews that attacks against financial institutions outside North America are also likely to have increased between the last half of 2006 and the first six months of 2007.
Wilson said that in the last half of 2006, SecureWorks was blocking attacks against its North American credit union clients from 1,110 hackers per credit union per month. “That number has risen to 1,799 hackers per credit union per month," he says.
In the last 30 days alone, SecureWorks blocked a total of 167 million hacker attacks against banks and credit unions, the company says.
"Most of the hackers we see stealing financial data are located in Russia and Eastern Europe,” Wilson says. “However, we are witnessing a growing number coming out of China. These countries have large numbers of talented young people who are extremely computer literate.”
According to Wilson, hackers are attracted by the minimal risks that they face in perpetrating crimes against financial institutions.
"The amount of stolen financial data we have found since the first of the year has been daunting," Don Jackson, a security researcher for SecureWorks, says. "We are finding new caches of stolen data everyday, evidence that more andmore criminals are getting into the game." According to Johnson, these data caches contained thousands of bank account and credit card numbers, social security numbers, online payment accounts and user names and passwords.
Labels: Canadian Banks
# posted by raveneye @ 7:03 PM 
