'Heist of a new kind': AI-enabled scam reportedly managed to steal $110 million from French bank
by https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/author/james-bentley/ · PC Gamer
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AI-enabled hacking is only continuing to get more impressive, and more scary, as a French bank claims a hacking group has cost it €100,000,000 (around $110,000,000)—about one quarter's profits. So not much, then?
That's according to an interview with Julien Carmona of Crédit Mutuel Arkéa with the AFP, which Boursorama reported. Carmona detailed the hack in an interview, claiming it to be a "heist of a new kind", stating the company has the "dubious honor of being the first French bank, and I believe the first European bank, to be the target of a successful fraudulent attack." (machine translated).
Carmona says the hack is "unprecedented in terms of sophistication" and "technicality".
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Effectively, the hacking group managed to create fake IBANs, including those from Fortuneo (a bank owned by the group), "to trigger payment orders from Crédit Mutuel Arkea's own account to external parties using instant payment systems". These, "by definition have fewer controls than on classic transfers."
Carmona did clarify to Les Echos that though they use Fortuneo IBANs, "Fortuneo's system, and therefore its customers, were not affected."
Reportedly, the hacking group used a compromised service provider of some kind to get privileged access, thereby bypassing restrictions normally in place to stop this kind of hack. When asked by Les Echos why they didn't reveal the name, Carmona said, "This is a collective decision by the banks. This information is not in the public interest and could harm the security of the banking sector. Similar service providers could then be targeted."
Starting on Sunday, November 1, the hacking group apparently made sure "everything was done to circumvent controls, to make these illegitimate transfers appear legitimate."
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They then transferred the funds to legitimate European banks, where they then took that money and spent it on crypto platforms. This hack wasn't spotted until Tuesday, November 3, when access to the bank's information system was cut off, but by that point the damage was done.
The French bank has since brought in crypto specialists, who reportedly spotted the abnormal transaction on Sunday and Monday "But, at that time, they themselves, and no one to my knowledge, made the link with Crédit Mutuel Arkea".
Carmona says the hacking organisation was "a very well-organised, very well-equipped criminal group" and "very likely aided by advanced artificial intelligence."
It's not yet clear what role AI played here, but it's particularly good at analysing data, and of course has found value in coding over the last year. AI was only recently used by a cyberhacking gang to target 60 firms a few months ago. In this Korean case, though, the gang only managed to make $210 in ransom payments before being caught.
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