Russian hackers increase cyber attacks on financial institutions

Baku. 1 August. REPORT.AZ/ The hacker group Cobalt, known for large-scale attacks on financial institutions, significantly expanded the scope of activities in 2017.

Report informs, a report by the information security company Positive Technologies says.

According to the report, Cobalt sent out phishing emails containing infected files to more than 3000 recipients from 250 companies in 12 countries. Companies that are located in North America, Western Europe and South America, in particular in Argentina, are added to the list of traditional goals for Cobalt, i.e. the CIS, Eastern Europe and South-East Asia. Now, not only banks, but also stock exchanges, insurance companies, investment funds and other organizations are in the sphere of interests of the group.

According to experts, the methods of hackers evolve. Now, before attacking banks, Cobalt pre-hacks the infrastructure of their partners - a quarter of all attacks are accounted for by state organizations, industrial companies, telecommunications operators and businesses from the medical field.