Russian government and private firm catch mastermind of billion-ruble cyber scam

An unidentified 40-year-old man from Russia was arrested for hacking the online banking systems of various Russian banks to conduct more than 5,000 fraudulent transactions.

His “man-in-the-middle” scheme involved installing malicious software on the machines of unwitting customers at Russia’s largest bank, Sberbank of Russia. The malware would “display spoofed banking pages to users on infected systems. In this way, users willingly submitted their banking log-in information and cell phone numbers into web forms that appeared to come from their bank, but actually communicated back to the attacker.”

The thief exploited this information to clone victims’ cellphone smartcards and bypass mobile payment authentication.

Security firm Group-IB and the Russian government’s cybersecurity investigatory unit, Department K, claim to have curbed the theft of a billion rubles or $34 million, by partnering on the case.