The attacker asked for $ 30 million in bitcoin in exchange for the sensitive information. Pichincha Bank and Diners Club clarified that their clients’ data is under protection.
On Tuesday, February 9, Twitter users spread information about an alleged hack to the Banco Pichincha database in Ecuador. The fact would compromise the bank’s financial security and its clients due to the release of information on account holders. The financial institution denied all this information without presenting any evidence. There are too many questions waiting for an answer about this case.
The accusations, which appear in various social networks, pointed to the alleged computer attack that caused the theft of about 80 GB of information that relates to Banco Pichincha and Visa Titanium, Diners Club, and Discover cards.
Bank_Security, a Twitter account that focuses on banking security, points out the following: “The responsibility for the incident points at one individual, who also claimed to have stolen 80GB of confidential information allegedly related to Banco Pichincha, Visa Titanium, Diners Club, and Discover. The crime allegedly includes its customers’ and employees’ personal information, access to intranet systems and credit cards, which put users in a fragile scenario.
This data would have been released already and would appear on the deep web because the answer to the hacker request was a “no.” According to the information that several Bank clients posted on social media, the amount the criminal was requesting was USD 30 million in bitcoin.
Banco Pichincha talked about the event through a statement on its Twitter account. “Our systems have never been under a compromise, and our clients’ information is duly protected, under strict international data protection standards.”
Diners Club del Ecuador also made some denials about the truth behind these claims, calling them fake news and “rumors.”Through a statement on his Twitter account, Diners Club stated: “Our clients’ data is under the protection and duly safeguarded under the highest security standards in the financial industry.”
Ransomware Attacks against banks in Latin America Are Very Common
In case the attack against Banco Pichincha ends up being true, this attack would not be the first of its nature. This type of computer attack happened against Latin American banking entities before and turned into a general criminal environment procedure.
Last year, the cybersecurity company Cyble warned that the Mexican bank CIBanco had suffered a ransomware attack. On that occasion, the hackers seized an undisclosed amount of confidential data from its customers.
The intelligence firm released a message attributed to the hackers, who threatened to disclose the allegedly stolen information if they didn’t receive any feedback from the victims to make the right deals. A part of the data went to the public due to the victims’ inconsistency in contacting the attackers.
By: Jenson Nuñez
