QNB Hackers Set ‘To Strike Again’, says Kaspersky Lab
May 4, 2016
Shah Sheikh (1294 articles)
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QNB Hackers Set ‘To Strike Again’, says Kaspersky Lab

Hackers who broke into Qatar National Bank (QNB)’s systems and stole thousands of customers’ records have attacked a second bank and plan to leak more data, Gulf News reported.

Quoting a security analyst from Middle East software company Kaspersky Lab, the newspaper said the QNB hackers had data from another big bank dating back to 2001 and were planning to release this in the coming days.

Mohammad Amin Hasbini, senior security researcher at Kaspersky Lab Middle East, Turkey and Africa, was quoted as saying: “They have announced that they are going to release data from another big bank dating back to 2001. This data could be used for ransomware.

“They have said they are going to make it public, either today or tomorrow. We are monitoring it.”

Hasbini said the hackers have Turkish roots, could be linked to Syrian conflict and are known as Bozkurtlar. They have uploaded a video online in which they claim responsibility for the QNB breach.

He was reportedly not certain as to the hackers’ motive but said it could be political.

The newspaper quoted Stephen Bailey, head of the cyber security team at PA Consulting’s technical security practice in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), as saying the motive is likely to be financial.

“The motive of the QNB hacking can’t be pinpointed at this stage,” he said. “Although the bank has claimed it is an attack on its reputation, there could be a financial angle as these professional hackers are hired by someone with a motive, which could be from tarnishing someone’s reputation to making financial gains from personal data of customers.

“At this stage, it is difficult to believe anyone hacking into a bank’s data system just for defaming the institution.

Global losses from hacking and undesired spamming exceed $100 billion a year, according to Kaspersky Lab.

Files from QNB, reported to contain thousands of customers’ records, were allegedly uploaded to a file-sharing website last week before being later removed.

The files totalled 1.4GB of data, according to reports from Qatar, and included passwords, account numbers and credit card information.

QNB has announced in a statement that it is investigating the alleged data breach and sought to reassure customers there would be no financial impact for the bank or its clients.

Source | ArabianBusiness