Hackers are waging war on the largest bank in Russia

Hackers have flooded the dark web with credit card details stolen from Russia’s largest bank as cybercriminals target the country in the wake of the invasion of Ukraine.

Card details of 113,476 Sberbank customers have been leaked to the dark web since the conflict began, according to research by data intelligence firm Cyberint, where their sale to fraudsters is announced.

This is almost 10 times the number that was circulating on the illicit websites before the conflict began.

Sberbank has been subject to international sanctions since Vladimir Putin launched his war. Internet experts said this made it more vulnerable to hackers because it’s easy to distract employees into sharing sensitive details.

The Telegraph revealed the British government’s plan to impose sanctions on Sberbank in February.

Since then, its operations have seen a sharp decline across Europe. The lender’s Austrian unit was the first Russian financial institution to collapse due to the sanctions, and Sberbank is also closing its investment bank in London.

The collective Anonymous Hacking claims to have attacked the Russian lender in the past few days, and has also been hit by massive website outages or so-called “DDoS” attacks.

Sberbank said it fought off the largest DDoS attack in its history on May 6.

Professor Alan Woodward, Internet expert At the University of Surrey, he said: “Sberbank is in a state of flux, and one of the biggest things that happens with it is socially directed attacks on employees. The bank has to change all kinds of things right now, and the people working at the bank will not necessarily be used to that.

“So it would be much easier for anyone to trick them out of their login details. They could phone up and pretend to be someone else, or send a phishing email. It’s easier to trick someone into a messy situation.

It is hard not to conclude that there is some kind of political motive behind this in addition to being a criminal activity. The huge spike in card details leaked here shows that hackers are really trying to make it happen.”

British banks have been told they may also be targeted by politically motivated cyber attacks. The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has written to the chief executives of major lenders to warn them that their businesses are a potential target for attacks in retaliation for sanctions against Russian companies and oligarchs.

Charlie Nunn, CEO of Lloyds, said it is on “high alert” for a cyberattack from Russia.

Professor Woodward said: “The National Cyber ​​Security Center has been on the alert with all of this, and they have been warning that an attack is almost inevitable.

If a bank is attacked and these kinds of details are leaked, the real people suffer financial losses. Card fraud is often forgotten, but it is probably one of the biggest costs in cybercrime.

All of this is one of the bank’s biggest nightmares. If you lose your card details, it will take your business elsewhere. Banks have a lot of highly sensitive information about you – not just your financial information. You won’t trust them anymore if they lose it.”