Fraudsters Use DDoS Attacks To Mask Wire Transfer Theft

Cybercriminals are now targeting the wire payment switch at several U.S. banks to steal millions of dollars from customer accounts, SC Magazine reported on August 21. 

Avivah Litan, vice president at Gartner, told the media outlet that the theft was cloaked by a wave of distributed denial-of-service (DDos) attacks. These smaller attacks were meant to divert attention away from the larger wire transfer theft, she said.

Authorities are still unsure of how the attackers gained access to the wire payment switch at the banks, but suggested a phishing scam targeted at employees could have been used.

For more on this developing story, read the full report here.