An executive from National Australia Bank reveals that the four major banks in the country face continuous attacks, as threat actors launch numerous attacks every minute, around the clock.
According to Chris Sheehan, National Australia Bank’s executive for group investigations, all banks are constantly being targeted by attacks. The purpose of these attacks is to steal money and sensitive information from unaware customers.
Australia’s four major banks are ANZ Bank, Commonwealth Bank, National Australia Bank (NAB), and Westpac. These banks are the largest in the country and are not allowed to merge or acquire each other as part of the “Four pillars policy.”
Cyber attacks on banks and their customers are constantly increasing. These attacks include various methods like spreading harmful code, breaching security, and launching denial of service campaigns. This makes it difficult for banks to stay one step ahead.
According to Sheehan, the situation can be described as “asymmetrical warfare.” It involves various threats, including amateur hackers, organized transnational crime groups, and even malicious nation-state actors.
From, being colloquial, Larry the loser, in the basement at home that’s having a bit of a chop away at the laptop and trying to steal money from people or hack into a system, all the way to highly sophisticated, ruthless and resilient transnational organised crime groups and they’re the ones that are driving 90 per cent of the scams that are hitting Australian victims.
After the bank’s website was down for a few hours, the official made a statement. The website said it was not working and told people to use the app or telephone banking instead.
The bank’s services have been restored, but it is unclear whether the downtime was due to an attack or routine maintenance. Some customers are frustrated because they were not notified of the downtime and are worried about their pending transactions.
The Australian Banking Association agrees with the NAB that the country’s financial institutions are effectively at war.
“We are amidst a scams war in this country,” an Australian Banking Association spokesperson told the ABC.
“Banks are working around the clock to protect Australians from scams and the industry will continue to invest record amounts in the latest scam-fighting technology to protect customers.
“Extra safeguards from banks are helping to ensure less Australians are losing money to the international criminal gangs who run many scams.”
Source: Abcnews, the cyberexpress,com, theaustralian.com.au
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