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Cyber Risks · Krebs on Security

Hacked Inboxes Lead to Bank Fraud

Summary: Attackers hijacked private email accounts belonging to three customers of Western National Bank, a seven-branch institution in Central and West Texas, and emailed each victim's local branch requesting account balances and wire transfer instructions. Bank personnel phoned two customers, who confirmed they had sent nothing, but a third employee replied with the balance information and processed a wire to an account at another bank, a loss WNB assumed and described only as "small."

Bottom line: The scheme succeeded not through technical sophistication but because the thieves could see the victim's prior email history with an account officer, and one employee acting on that trust relationship moved money to an outside account; WNB's executive vice president said he has heard from other small and regional banks hit by the same attacks.

Read the original at Krebs on Security ↗

Topics
Fraud & Scams
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