French prosecutors and cybercrime enforcement agencies have swiftly launched an investigation after the leading financial institution Credit Mutuel Arkea was hacked by cybercriminals, who stole cash amounting to 100 million euros, approximately 3.65 billion baht.
Reports indicate that the cyberattack forced Credit Mutuel Arkea to temporarily suspend certain transaction types to prevent further damage, causing delays in some customers' money transfers. However, the bank confirmed that individual customers’ assets and accounts were not impacted by the incident.
A spokesperson for Credit Mutuel Arkea revealed that the perpetrators gained access to the system and used bank accounts to carry out fraudulent transactions to divert funds. The stolen money was initially in conventional currency, not cryptocurrency, but it is highly likely the criminals will convert these funds into crypto later to make them harder to trace.
Additionally, the bank denied rumors that Fortuneo, its online banking subsidiary, was a security weakness exploited by the hackers, affirming that neither Fortuneo nor its customers’ accounts were involved in the breach.
Rafay Balouch, CEO of cybersecurity firm RedSecLabs, stated that the Credit Mutuel Arkea incident is a rare and unprecedented case at this scale in Europe. Typically, cyber threats involve data leaks or ransomware, but this case involves the direct theft of cash from a major financial institution’s system.
This event follows other major recent cyberattacks, such as the theft of cryptocurrency worth up to 6.3 billion dollars from Binance exchange, as well as a wave of attacks on internet-connected smart refrigerators in Europe.
Credit Mutuel Arkea has notified the European Central Bank (ECB) and France’s financial regulatory authority (ACPR). It remains uncertain how much of the stolen money can be recovered.
Source:Reuters
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