A gang of pro-Russian hackers has taken responsibility for a series of attacks on the IT systems of banks and financial institutions throughout Europe.
The group, known as Killnet, has claimed to have targeted the European Investment Bank (EIB), which has confirmed it was indeed the victim of an attack. The hackers deployed a range of distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks on the EIB and other financial institutions.
Pro-Russian groups, including Killnet, Anonymous Sudan, and REvil, have focused their efforts on the European banking sector in reaction to sanctions imposed on Russia following its invasion of Ukraine.
In a recent message from Killnet’s Telegram page, they stated: “Hello Europe! How are things with the IBAN banking system? I feel like something is wrong with her. Perhaps the transfer system is affected by bad weather. And also the weather forecasters say that not only IBAN will be dead, but also SEPA, WISE, SWIFT.”
Matt Hull, global head of threat intelligence at NCC Group, noted that the activities of politically motivated hackers present a significant threat to governments, critical infrastructure, and businesses. As a result, organizations are encouraged to implement proactive security measures and foster a culture of resilience.