BANKING HACK HEIST YIELDS UP TO US$1 BILLION

According to reports, J.P.Morgan Chase may be among banks where hackers set up fake accounts as part of an international banking scheme.

An international hacking ring has stolen as much as $1 billion from more than 100 banks in 30 countries including Russia, the U.S. and China in what could be one of the biggest banking breaches ever.

Hackers used phishing schemes and other methods to infiltriate the banks' systems and lie dormant gathering information about bank operations. Then, they steal funds by transferring money to fake accounts and dispensing cash from ATMs, according to a report that Russian-based Kaspersky Lab is to present Monday at a security conference in Cancun, Mexico.

"This is likely the most sophisticated attack the world has seen to date in terms of the tactics and methods that cybercriminals have used to remain covert," the lab's Chris Doggett told The New York Times, which first reported on the incident.

In one case, a bank lost $7.3 million through ATM fraud. In another case, a financial institution lost $10 million by the attackers exploiting its online banking platform.

Most of the targets have been in Russia, the U.S., Germany, China and Ukraine, although the attackers may be expanding throughout Asia, the Middle East, Africa and Europe, Kaspersky told the Times.

Two people briefed on the investigation said that J.P. Morgan Chase was among the banks where fake accounts were created and money was transferred into.

The hackers seem to limit their theft to about $10 million before moving on to another bank, which may explain why the fraud went undetected so long, Kaspersky's principal security researcher Vicente Diaz told The Associated Press.

USA Today