A gang of pro-Russian hactivists have claimed credit for a series of attacks on the IT systems of banks and financial institutions across Europe.
The group, Killnet, claims to have targeted the inner workings of the European Investment Bank (EIB) which has in turn confirmed that it has been the victim of an attack.
The hackers have a used a series of distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks on the EIB and other financial institutions.
Pro-Russian groups such as Killnet, Anonymous Sudan and REvil have targeted the European banking system in response to the sanctions placed on Russia in the wake of its invasion of Ukraine.
The latest message from Killnet’s Telegram page read: “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.”
According to Matt Hull, global head of threat intelligence at NCC Group, the activities of politically motivated hackers pose a significant risk to governments, critical infrastructures and companies. Consequently, organisations should adopt proactive security measures and nurture a culture of resilience.