What happened?
The U.S. Justice and Treasury departments have charged a Russian hacking group known as “Evil Corp.” with theft of over $100 million.
What did Evil Corp. do?
The group targeted several major corporations and bank accounts using malicious software. The malware, called “Dridex” and “Zeus” respectively, evaded anti-virus software and spread through email phishing scams. Once downloaded, employee and customer login credentials were used to transfer funds to a bank account in Minsk, Belarus.
What have The Justice and Treasury Departments done?
The Justice Department has announced indictments against key members of the group, while the Treasury Department announced sanctions against Evil Corp.. In all, the action targets 17 members associated with the organization. Among them is Evil Corp.’s leader, Maksim Yakubets. As of today, The State Department has placed a $5 million reward for information on Yakubets.
“Treasury is sanctioning Evil Corp as part of a sweeping action against one of the world’s most prolific cybercriminal organizations. This coordinated action is intended to disrupt the massive phishing campaigns orchestrated by this Russian-based hacker group,” said Steven Mnuchin, Secretary of the Treasury, in a statement. “OFAC’s action is part of a multiyear effort with key NATO allies, including the United Kingdom. Our goal is to shut down Evil Corp, deter the distribution of Dridex, target the “money mule” network used to transfer stolen funds, and ultimately to protect our citizens from the group’s criminal activities.”
What can business owners learn from the Evil Corp. hacks?
Many businesses rely on anti-virus alone to protect their confidential information. While anti-virus is an important part of cyber security, it cannot stand alone in the face of sophisticated malware. To prevent hackers from compromising your data, we recommend adding proactive monitoring and advanced network security to your cyber security plan.
With PCI’s proactive monitoring, your network will be under constant surveillance by highly-skilled IT engineers. Additionally, our advanced network security adds multi-layered protection to your network. This redundancy will ensure that your business is protected should one facet of your cyber security fail.
For more information about our comprehensive cyber security services, contact us.