A gang of hackers managed to steal a reported £1.3 million from a branch of Barclays bank in Swiss Cottage, north London.
It is alleged that the gang managed to gain access to the Barclays branch computer network remotely by installing a device which then allowed them to transfer money into their own accounts. It is thought that the gang managed to fit this device when one of the gang members posed as an IT engineer who pretended to be fixing a broken computer. What he was actually doing was installing a device known as a keyboard Video Mouse (KVM) into the back of the computer which allowed the gang to gain remote access to the network.
Worryingly, the device that was used and enabled the gang to steal £1.3 million can be purchased for as little as £10 online and from computer stores.
Eight men so far have been arrested in connection with the theft and are currently being held in different police stations across London in connection with an allegation of conspiracy to steal from Barclays Bank and conspiracy to defraud British banks.
The police have stated that Barclays have managed to recover the vast majority of the money that was stolen.
Detective Inspector Mark Raymond, of the Metropolitan Police’s Central e-Crime Unit (PeCU), stated, “Those responsible for this offence are significant players within a sophisticated and determined organised criminal network, which used considerable technical abilities and traditional criminal know-how to infiltrate and exploit secure banking systems.”
This isn’t the first case where this method has been used by a gang of hackers. Twelve men who were plotting to use the same method to steal money from Santander branch in Surrey Quays, were arrested before they could install the device.
A spokesperson for Scotland Yard stated, “This new and increasing methodology being seen by UK law enforcement demonstrates the rapidly evolving nature of low risk, high financial yield cyber enabled crime.”
Such incidents show that hackers and gangs are coming up with innovative and sophisticated ideas to exploit businesses. Therefore, the importance of having robust security procedures and a robust backup solution in place is becoming ever more important. Such methods could and may be used on other businesses where their critical business data ends up being held to ransom. For such cases, having a robust cloud backup solution in place ensures that you can always recover your data, no matter what happens.
Are you fearful of hackers? Do you have a robust cloud backup solution in place?
