Financial Industry Shaken by DDoS Attacks

Distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks are one of the most common techniques along with cyber criminals. Despite being temporary, DDoS attacks can have a significant impact on organizations.

DDoS attacks became a big issue again last year during the Russia-Ukraine conflict. Due to the attacks, the websites of state-owned banks and the government in Ukraine experienced massive network traffic in February 2021, which was an immense pressure during that time.

SOCRadar analyzed the financial institutions’ threat landscape in its industry report to help cybersecurity professionals to eliminate cyber risks like DDoS attacks. Click the button below to download the full report.

DDoS attacks require more devices than DoS, more specifically a botnet, to flood a server with traffic. Therefore, there are occasionally motives other than simply pressuring a victim. Threat actors may also conduct these attacks to interrupt security procedures, conceal other malicious activity, or disrupt workflow.

Risks of DDoS Attacks 

Data theft and hacking of a third party are the primary threats to the financial industry during a DDoS attack.

Vendors from various industries are linked in the financial institutions’ digital environment. Threat actors typically target the most vulnerable vendor, and with a single intrusion, they can gain access to others.

The well-known SolarWinds breach demonstrates that financial institutions must not overlook threats from third parties. DDoS attacks may cover up such attacks, and businesses in a supply chain might become targets of extortion or dark web data leaks. 

Stay aware of threats. Read more in SOCRadar’s 2022 Financial Industry Threat Landscape Report.

DDoS Attacks Targeting Financial Industry 

• News of a slowed-down Fast Payment System (FPS) due to an increase in DDoS attacks on Russian telecom providers’ channels is found on a hacker forum that SOCRadar monitors.

• The websites of the Ministry of Defense, state-owned Privatbank, and Oschadbank in Ukraine were targeted by hackers in DDoS attacks. Attackers disrupted Oschadbank’s Internet banking.

• Businesses, including ANZ New Zealand and Kiwibank, experienced service interruptions on their banking apps and websites due to a DDoS campaign against New Zealand-based firms. 
• Threat actors disrupted the Bank of Zambia’s IT applications due to a DDoS attack claimed by the Hive group. The Bank of Zambia stated that it refused to pay the ransom and was back in operation within four days. 
• In February, DDoS attacks were launched against Russia’s largest bank Sberbank and the Moscow Stock Exchange. Anonymous later claimed responsibility for the Sberbank hack by leaking relevant information. In a hacker forum monitored by SOCRadar, a new Sberbank credit card sale was detected.