Ransom or Face DDoS attack – Group Threatens Australian Banks buy carding cc, dumps with pin website

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Reports reveal that Australian banks are
the targets of suspected DDoS attacks. The attackers are reportedly demanding a
ransom to stop the threat, as reported
by the nation’s cybersecurity unit.
Already, some attackers who call themselves Silence from Russia APT
hacker group have been linked to the threat. The group is known for its attacks
on financial institutions and banks.
The Australian Cyber Security Center (ACSC) said it could not
verify the affiliation claims of the hacker group. However, it mentioned that
the Australian banking sector had received a lot of threats.
Last year, the group was accused of infiltrating
the network
of Russia’s Omsk
IT Bank, leading
to a $400,000 loss, and Dutch-Banga
Bank in
Bangladesh, which resulted to the loss of about $3 million
On Tuesday, ACSC said, “The ACSC is aware of a number of DoS for
ransom threats being made against Australian organizations, primarily in the
banking and finance sector,”
It further stated that the hacking group sent their threats via email. They threatened the recipient with an impending DDoS attack if they do not comply to pay a certain amount in Monero crypto.
However, there has not been any reported incidence of any DDoS
attack on the banks or any financial institution, says ACSC.
Group-IB, a cybersecurity company based in Singapore, has
extensively researched Silence. Last year August, the firm said that the hacker group has expanded its
operations and increased its efficiency when it comes to cyber-attacks.
At first, Silence limited its activities to post-Soviet states and
neighboring countries. However, Group-IB said the group has now expanded not
only in operations but in geographical targets as well.
The attacking group made use of phishing emails to raid their victims’
systems. They also tested the validity of the email addresses through email
campaigns. I
n addition, the attackers, while remaining unnoticed, got information from a targeted firm about its cybersecurity solutions. When they get this information, they devised means to penetrate and infuse their systems with DDoS attacks .
However, Group-IB’s head of dynamic analysis, Rustam Mirkasymov,
said the group initially did not operate through ransom DDoS. He reiterated
that the initial operational method of Silence was to perpetrate attacks on
ATMs through processing cards. According to him, DDoS may be a new area the
group may be exploring.
He further pointed out that Silence’s geographical operational
scope has expanded to other Asian countries, but they do not have any presence
in Australia.
The cybersecurity firm said it has been monitoring the activities
of the syndicate for the past four years. With the firm’s knowledge of their
activities and operational methods, it is highly unlikely that the recent
ransom DDoS campaign seen in Australia may have been from the Silence APT.
According to Group-IB, the ransom DDoS attack method is very
different from the usual attacking methods of the silence Group
Mirkasymov reiterated that the hacking group like Silence has been
used in the past to warn people of an impending attack. He said in October last
year, the Group-IB team discovered a heavy campaign dispersing similar
information about an impending DDoS attack to intimidate victims within the
banking and financial sector.
The attackers posed as the infamous Fancy Bear and warned the
banking community of an impending DDoS attack unless a ransom is paid.
The DDoS attack is one of the most common attacking methods,
particularly in the banking and financial sector. It sends an enormous amount
of data or traffic to the network, thereby giving the system too much to
handle. As a result, the system or network crashes due to overload.
Although this type of attack can have a
severe negative impact on smaller organizations, larger institutions like banks
and other major financial institutions have the defenses to significantly
reduce its impact.
However, even the slightest disruption can
have a negative impact on customers, since the banking sector is a service one
with more emphasis on customer satisfaction.
Even the slightest amount of downtime due
to DDoS attacks can cause a rift within customers and draw a lot of attention.
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