Calif. Co. Sues Bank Over $465k eBanking Heist
Summary: Village View Escrow, a Redondo Beach, Calif. real estate escrow company, is suing Professional Business Bank of Pasadena over more than $465,000 lost in March 2010, when attackers broke into its computers and sent 26 consecutive wire transfers to 20 individuals around the world with no legitimate business ties to the firm. The bank relied on third-party provider NetTeller, which let commercial customers authenticate with little more than a username and password, while the company's contract stated transfers would only be allowed if authorized by two Village View employees and confirmed by a call from specific Village View phone numbers.
What you should know: The thieves got in by disguising a banking Trojan as a UPS shipping receipt, which the owner opened and forwarded to another employee, then apparently disabled the bank's email notifications - so the contractual safeguard that was supposed to catch this, a phone confirmation from a specific number, is now the central question in the lawsuit.
Read the original at Krebs on Security ↗
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