North Korea: Early on the morning of February 13th, Malta’s largest bank, the Bank of Valetta, shutdown all banking operations following what they initially referred to as “unauthorized access” to their systems. Initial statements gave very few details of what had taken place, however subsequent statements, including one by Prime Minister Joseph Muscat, revealed the fact that the attackers had initiated multiple fraudulent transactions. The total of the transactions reached nearly 13 million Euros, or $14.7 million USD. The attackers attempted to send the funds to accounts in Britain, the U.S., the Czech Republic, and Hong Kong. Following the discovery of the fraudulent transactions during a routine review of activity, the bank chose to suspend all services at banks, ATMs, and online in order to protect themselves and their customers. Although no details of whom is believed to be behind the attack have been released, the tactics employed match up with those utilized by North Korean hackers in other attacks. North Korea has shown an adept ability to manipulate the Swift transaction system and has sent money to banks throughout Europe and Hong Kong in a number of previous attacks.
Analyst Notes
It is possible that as the investigation into the attacks progresses that ties to North Korea will be discovered.
