Cyber criminals charged with ATM theft worth $9.4 million
Monday, November 16, 2009
The carefully choreographed heist of $9.4 million from a U.S. subsidiary of the Royal Bank of Scotland was masterminded by four hackers from Eastern Europe, according to a federal grand jury's indictment of the men handed down last week.
The hackers breached network security at RBS WorldPay, an Atlanta-based company that provides payroll services. After breaking the network's encryption safeguards, the criminals raised the limits on selected accounts to which they had already gained access, according to the Christian Science Monitor. Accomplices around the world then made coordinated withdrawals from the accounts, keeping some and forwarding the rest to the masterminds.
The breach became public knowledge about a year ago, and RBS WorldPay warned its customers that the hackers may have gained illicit access to their personal information, advising them to carefully monitor their accounts for signs of fraud.
Acting U.S. Attorney Sally Quillian Yates described the hack as "perhaps the most sophisticated and organized computer fraud attack ever conducted." The men, who include an Estonian, a Moldovan, a Russian, and a defendant known only as "hacker 3" face up to 37 years in prison and up to $3.5 million in fines.
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