Banking and Finance


  • New SEC rule requires public companies to disclose cybersecurity breaches in 4 days

    July 26, 2023

    The Securities and Exchange Commission adopted rules Wednesday to require public companies to disclose within four days all cybersecurity breaches that could affect their bottom lines. Delays will be permitted if immediate disclosure poses serious national security or public safety risks. The new rules, passed by a 3-2 vote, also require publicly traded companies to annually ...

  • Hibernating Qakbot: A Comprehensive Study and In-depth Campaign Analysis

    July 25, 2023

    In the ever-evolving landscape of cyber threats, banking trojans continue to pose a significant risk to organizations worldwide. Among them, Qakbot, also known as QBot or Pinkslipbot, stands out as a highly sophisticated and persistent malware active since 2007, targeting businesses across different countries. With a primary focus on stealing financial data and login credentials from ...

  • First known open-source software attacks on banking sector could kickstart long-running trend

    July 21, 2023

    Application security provider Checkmarx has detailed its findings on the first known open-source software (OSS) attacks targeting the banking sector. During the first half of 2023, the firm said its supply chain research team detected several OSS attacks that showcased advanced techniques designed to exploit legitimate services – such as attaching malicious functionalities to specific components ...

  • FIN8 Uses Revamped Sardonic Backdoor to Deliver Noberus Ransomware

    July 18, 2023

    Symantec’s Threat Hunter Team, a part of Broadcom, recently observed the Syssphinx (aka FIN8) cyber-crime group deploying a variant of the Sardonic backdoor to deliver the Noberus ransomware. While analysis of the backdoor revealed it to be part of the Sardonic framework previously used by the group, and analyzed in a 2021 report from Bitdefender, it ...

  • Major security flaws in popular Quickblox chat and video framework expose sensitive data of millions

    July 12, 2023

    Real-time chat and video services available within telemedicine, finance, and smart IoT device applications used by millions of people, rely on the popular QuickBlox framework. QuickBlox supplies mobile and web application developers with a SDK and APIs to deliver not only user management, real-time public and private chat features, for example, but also security features ...

  • 12,000 State Bank of India employees’ sensitive data leaked on Telegram channels

    July 11, 2023

    In a massive data breach incident, the data of more than 12,000 State Bank of India (SBI) employees was leaked on Telegram channels. The leaked data included the employees’ personal information, such as their SBI passbooks, names, addresses, contact numbers, and PAN numbers. The data breach was unearthed after a Telegram channel with the handle @sbi_data ...

  • What is the FFIEC Cybersecurity Assessment Tool?

    June 29, 2023

    The FFIEC Cybersecurity Assessment Tool (CAT) is a diagnostic test designed to help institutions identify risks and gauge cybersecurity preparedness. The tool is primarily for financial and non-depository institutions, enabling organizations to make risk-driven security decisions informed by regular cybersecurity assessments and standardized risk measurement criteria. While it is voluntary, financial institutions have expressed concern that ...

  • Two Prudential companies in Malaysia affected by MOVEit data-theft attack

    June 13, 2023

    Prudential Assurance Malaysia Bhd (PAMB) and Prudential BSN Takaful Bhd (PruBSN) have confirmed that they have been affected by the global MOVEit data-theft attack, “where a zero-day vulnerability was exploited.” The two insurance companies said that as soon as they became aware of the breach, “we took action to isolate the affected server while the incident ...

  • The Role of the SEC in Enforcing InfoSec Legislation

    June 12, 2023

    Founded 85 years ago at the height of the Great Depression, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has a clear mission: to protect investors, maintain fair, orderly, and efficient markets, and facilitate capital formation. Put simply, the SEC aims to protect US investors by maintaining a fair market. The SEC doesn’t work directly with investors, however. ...

  • Ukrainian hackers take down service provider for Russian banks

    June 9, 2023

    A group of Ukrainian hackers known as the Cyber.Anarchy.Squad claimed an attack that took down Russian telecom provider Infotel JSC on Thursday evening. Among other things, Moscow-based Infotel provides connectivity services between the Russian Central Bank and other Russian banks, online stores, and credit institutions. Read more… Source: Bleeping Computer  

  • Spanish Globalcaja bank confirms ransomware attack

    June 5, 2023

    A prominent Spanish bank has confirmed that it is dealing with a ransomware attack that has impacted multiple branches. On Friday, Globalcaja issued a statement assuring customers that the incident has not impacted its entities’ operations, and that electronic banking and ATM services are still functioning. Read more… Source: Computing News  

  • New Horabot campaign targets the Americas

    June 1, 2023

    Cisco Talos has observed a threat actor deploying a previously unidentified botnet program Talos is calling “Horabot,” which delivers a known banking trojan and spam tool onto victim machines in a campaign that has been ongoing since at least November 2020. The threat actor appears to be targeting Spanish-speaking users in the Americas and, based on ...

  • Man jailed for running multimillion-pound criminal website iSpoof

    May 19, 2023

    The man responsible for running a multimillion-pound fraud website, used by scammers to trick people into handing over their bank details, has been jailed. Tejay Fletcher, 35, pleaded guilty to running iSpoof, a website that allowed criminals and fraudsters to appear as if they were calling from banks, tax offices and other official bodies in an ...

  • Britain’s largest private pension scheme reveals scale of Capita break-in

    May 12, 2023

    Universities Superannuation Scheme, the UK’s largest private pension provider, says Capita has warned that details of almost half a million members were held on servers accessed during the recent breach. The USS made the disclosure today, saying that it uses Capita technology platform, Hartlink, to manage in-house pension administration processes, and was working closely with the ...

  • Spanish police dismantle phishing operation linked to crime ring

    May 9, 2023

    The National Police of Spain have arrested two hackers, 15 members of a criminal organization, and another 23 people involved in illegal financial operations in Madrid and Seville for alleged bank scams. The cybercrime operation is an email and SMS-based phishing campaign that allegedly scammed over 300,000 people and resulted in confirmed losses of at least ...

  • FCA urges Capita clients to ascertain if data was compromised in cyber-attack

    May 3, 2023

    The City regulator has contacted Capita’s corporate clients urging them to ascertain whether their customers’ data has been compromised after a cyber-attack on the outsourcer in March. The Financial Conduct Authority said it had written to firms it regulates and which outsource work to Capita to ensure they are “fully engaged” in assessing the fallout from ...

  • UK banks suffer service outage

    April 28, 2023

    Customers of Lloyds Bank, Halifax, Bank of Scotland and TSB Bank locked out of their accounts. Thousands of customers of four UK banks are having problems logging on via the companies’ websites and mobile apps. Read more… Source: Computing  

  • Cyber Thieves Are Getting More Creative

    April 24, 2023

    Cybercriminals pull off many of their crimes by combining lots of real information with just a tiny bit of misinformation, which can be financially devastating for both companies and individuals. This article describes some recent examples of this technique, which include exploiting wire transfers, stealing paychecks, and tricking employees into helping “the boss.” It’s important to ...

  • Bank of America at odds with Lloyd’s over state-backed cyberattack exemption

    April 20, 2023

    Bank of America has reportedly raised concerns with Lloyd’s of London about a move to exempt “state-backed” cyberattacks from standard insurance policies. Bank of America highlighted its concerns with the policy in a series of meetings between Lloyd’s and its biggest clients, the Financial Times reported. Read more… Source: MSN News  

  • Australians lose record $3.1 billion to scams in 2022

    April 16, 2023

    Doris McAllister spent her whole life working hard to support herself. So, last year, when the 75-year-old saw an international bank offering a good return on deposits, she decided to transfer her life’s savings of $260,000 across to help secure her retirement. Six weeks later, when she needed to make a withdrawal, she realised she had been ...