UNIVERSITY NEWS LAST UPDATED : 17 FEBRUARY 2015
The £600m ‘Carbanak' cyber-heist of 100 financial institutions shows how it is the employees in any organisation that are the greatest threat to IT security, an expert warned.
Commenting after a report revealed the extent of the cyber theft over recent months, using email phishing, Professor Mike Jackson, cyber security expert from Birmingham City University said: “This hacking attack appears to have exploited the weakest cyber link in any organisation – the employees.
“The act of opening an email and clicking on a link, which can appear so innocuous has resulted in major losses for a number of financial establishments.
“Banks, as we might expect, are amongst the most security conscious organisations in the world. This set of attacks has been so sophisticated and well organised that what we might regard as the best defended commercial enterprises, have had their cyber-defences breached.
The gang responsible for the hacking attack, dubbed ‘Carbanak’ has reportedly cost companies around £600m in stolen money. Computer viruses were used to infect company networks with malware including video surveillance, enabling Carbanak to see and record everything that happened on staff's screens.