Three South African Banks Hit by Hackers

The First National Bank, Standard and Absa banks were the targets of several successful online attacks. As yet, the financial institutions reported that no less then 10 bank accounts have been hacked. The value of the damages caused by the attackers is of approximately 80.000 dollars, but banking officials claim that further intrusions were detected even after the initial hits, and that a coherent estimate of the total amount stolen could not be provided as yet.

It seems that the attacks were generated as a consequence of the a successful data gathering campaign by means of spyware, Backdoor Trojans and keyloggers. Confidential information was stolen from clients belonging to all three banks, and used in consequence in online fraud. After hacking the personal business accounts of the customers the fraudsters transferred money into both cellphone and Telkom prepaid accounts. One of the victims is Boaz Chilala, a First National Bank (FNB) client, swiped of 1.500 dollars.

Banking officials have issued an announcement that all clients who have suffered losses in this manner will be reimbursed in full. But clients have been recommended to install the latest security solutions on their computers and to keep their data confidential even from bank employees in order to prevent further attacks.