News

Hackers indicted in $9.4 million ATM heist

November 10, 2009

The Christian Science Monitor reports that three men have been named as being the masterminds behind the hacking of RBS WorldPay, a subsidiary of the Royal Bank of Scotland. The ring from Eastern Europe was indicted for the RBS WorldPay heist that occurred last November. The men hacked into a bank card system and transferred $9.4 million to conspirators in 280 cities throughout the world.

The indictment, announced Tuesday, alleges that the men used sophisticated hacking techniques to defeat data encryption safeguards used by RBS WorldPay. The hackers focused on payroll debit cards that allow employees to withdraw salaries from ATMs.

The hackers also provided a network of co-conspirators with 44 counterfeit payroll debit cards. Within a 12-hour span, the hacking ring withdrew $9.4 million from 2,100 ATMs in 280 cities worldwide. Withdrawals took place in the United States, Russia, Ukraine, Estonia, Italy, Hong Kong, Japan and Canada.

Sally Quillian Yates, acting U.S. Attorney in the Northern District of Georgia, said in a statement that the scheme was elaborate and sophisticated:

Last November, in just one day, an American credit card processor was hacked in perhaps the most sophisticated and organized computer fraud attack ever conducted. Today, almost exactly one year later, the leaders of this attack have been charged. This investigation has broken the back of one of the most sophisticated computer hacking rings in the world.

The case is being investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Agencies working the case overseas include the Estonian Central Criminal Police, the Hong Kong Police Force, and the Netherlands Police Agency National Crime Squad High Tech Crime Unit.