Engineers are investigating how hackers managed to crack the New York branch of the Industrial & Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) – a financial institution with a total of $5.74 trillion in assets.
The hack forced the ICBC to settle trades using a USB stick, while banks, brokers and market makers were forced to reroute trades, Bloomberg reports.
The attack also disrupted the bank’s ability to participate in the Treasury Department’s bond auction on Thursday.
Researchers suspect that the ransomware gang Lockbit, which has ties to Russia, is behind the attack.
Without naming names, Bloomberg says bank leaders admit the hack highlights fears that a system-wide attack could one day bring the traditional financial system to a standstill.
“The incident highlights a danger that bank leaders recognize is keeping them up at night – the prospect of a cyberattack that could one day cripple a key part of the financial system’s wiring and trigger a cascade of disruptions. cause.”
The ICBC says it is debating whether to ask for help from China’s Ministry of State Security.
The number of ransomware attacks on the financial sector has increased in recent years, according to a report by cybersecurity company Sophos.
“The 2023 survey found that the number of ransomware attacks in the financial services industry continues to rise. It rose from 55% in the 2022 report to 64% in this year’s survey, which was almost double the 34% the sector reported in the 2021 report. Although the sector had a higher attack rate, this was below the cross-industry average of 66%.”
Sophos says financial institutions are stepping up efforts to stay safe.
The company’s survey of 3,000 cybersecurity/IT leaders, including 336 in the financial services industry, found that 81% of organizations say their data is encrypted, a 50% increase from the previous year.
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