Over 100 Financial Firms Hit by DDoS Attacks
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More than 100 financial firms were victims of distributed denial-of-service attacks by the same threat actor with North America and Europe overwhelmingly making up the dominant share, according to a recent report.
Cyber intelligence sharing group FS-ISAC said that over 100 financial services firms were targets of a wave of distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks – a method of overloading a web system with requests in order to prevent it from functioning properly.
Interestingly, the report claims that the attacks were conducted by the same threat actor within a short period of time.
The criminals sent extortion notes threatening to disrupt the firms’ websites and digital services, the report said. The threat actor methodically moved across jurisdictions in Europe, North America, Latin America, and Asia Pacific, hitting dozens of institutions within weeks.
According to the report, North America and Europe made up an overwhelming share of the DDoS attacks with 43 percent and 38 percent, respectively. Asia (15 percent) and Latin America (3 percent) made up less than one-fifth.
By sub-sectors, retail banking dominated the list, accounting for 41 percent of the DDoS attacks. This is followed by exchange (15 percent), payments (13 percent) and, securities and investment (10 percent).
In 2021, we have already seen new cyber threats in the form of supply chain attacks, which we can expect to proliferate and evolve quickly, said FS-ISAC’s chairman of the board Jerry Perullo «The only way to stay ahead of these ever more sophisticated threat actors is to collaborate. Now more than ever, we need global leaders to model what effective sharing looks like to the rest of our community as well as the industry at large.
Questions & Answers
Q.Which regions were most affected by these distributed denial-of-service attacks?
Which regions were most affected by these distributed denial-of-service attacks?
North America and Europe bore the brunt of the DDoS attacks, accounting for 43 percent and 38 percent of the incidents respectively. Asia and Latin America experienced a much smaller share of the attacks.
Q.Which specific financial sub-sectors were most frequently targeted by these attacks?
Which specific financial sub-sectors were most frequently targeted by these attacks?
Retail banking was the most targeted sub-sector, experiencing 41 percent of the DDoS attacks. This was followed by exchange services, payments, and securities and investment firms.
Q.What was the primary motive behind the distributed denial-of-service attacks?
What was the primary motive behind the distributed denial-of-service attacks?
The criminals behind the attacks sent extortion notes to the targeted firms. Their primary motive was to threaten disruption of the companies' websites and other digital services unless demands were met.
Q.How widespread geographically were the operations of the threat actor?
How widespread geographically were the operations of the threat actor?
The threat actor systematically targeted institutions across multiple continents within weeks. They moved methodically through jurisdictions in Europe, North America, Latin America, and Asia Pacific.
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