Security Experts Say Hackers Can Hack Russian Banks In 5 Days

Experts from the information security company Positive Technologies came to the conclusion that hackers will need only five days on average to hack a large Russian Bank. Experts came to this conclusion on the basis of a number of tests. The attack was successful due to vulnerabilities in applications, software and password selection. In some cases, access to ATMs was obtained.

Tests in 10 banks from the top 50 banks showed that hackers need an average of 5 days to hack the Russian bank’s network. In cases where the hacker acts from the inside, he is able to get full control over the entire infrastructure of the Bank in two days.

During the audit of banks, whose names were not disclosed, experts simulated 18 cyberattacks. In eight cases, the attacks were carried out from the outside using only publicly available data, such as the Bank’s website or an incorrectly configured database. In ten cases, the hacker attacked from inside the bank, that is, the hacker was in the Bank building and got access to the power outlet, Wi-Fi network, and so on, or thanks to an external attack, he gained access to user data of a bank employee. Social engineering methods were not used in the tests.

Passwords turned out to be the weakest point because most of them were selected using a combination of similar words or nearby keys. Under one very common password “qwerty123” in one of the credit organizations were more than 500 accounts.

New testing showed that hackers can penetrate from the Internet into the local network of seven out of eight banks.

However, Kaspersky Lab’s Leading Antivirus Expert Sergey Golovanov said, Due to the improvement of bank security systems, Russian-speaking hacker groups are increasingly attacking foreign credit organizations, they are switching to banks in Asia, Africa and Latin America.