Page 7 - Cyber Warnings

The Bank Vault Isn’t Secure: So What Hope Do the Rest of Us

Have?

The losses being reported for recent bank cyberattacks are frighteningly large– banking cybercrime
in 2016 most definitely pays. NNT provide a quick backgrounder to the core issues.

Things used to be so simple in the Good Old Days…

Ever since the earliest forms of banking were established there has always been a need to
protect the currency of the day. The first treasuries were established within temples to ensure
that the loot was not only protected physically, but morally too by the overseeing deity.

Bank strong rooms evolved to incorporate increasing levels of physical security. Safes became
vaults, with more steel and concrete being used.

Similarly, lock technology increased in sophistication and complexity from simple keys to
multiple layers of codes and combinations.

When bank heists began to find success via brute force – drilling, explosives and thermic lances
will defeat any lock and even reinforced concrete - alarm systems became increasingly
valuable.

Sensors to detect unexpected activity could alert bank security before the physical vault
defenses were breached.

Alarm systems meant that the perpetrators were apprehended before a robbery succeeded, a
valuable lesson from history that still holds true today.

In the last 20 years, in the banking sector, as in all other industries, the internet has proven to
be a game-changer.

The opportunities for banks to trade faster, more simply and on a global scale has
revolutionized the business. Unfortunately, the cybercrime industry has developed even faster
and man, have they seized the opportunity to make money from the internet-enabled bank!

The big ones that have caused problems recently are the Carbanak APT which is estimated to
have netted $1B worldwide, much of this in cold hard cash from hacked ATMs.

There was also the more recent Bangladesh bank heist which shows that attacks often succeed
more as a result of opportunism rather than necessarily being due to being uber-sophisticated.

7 Cyber Warnings E-Magazine – June 2016 Edition
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