Hackers Steal 9.4 Million

On Tuesday a U.S. grand jury indicted eight individuals for using sophisticated hacking techniques to defeat encryption safeguards used by RBS WorldPay, a subsidiary of the Royal Bank of Scotland.  The hackers were able to transfer $9.4 million dollars to co-conspirators around the world.

The hackers focused on payroll debit cards which allow employees to withdraw their salaries from a bank ATM.  Within a 12-hour span, the hacking ring withdrew $9.4 million from 2,100 ATMs in 280 cities worldwide. Withdrawals took place in cities in the US, Russia, Ukraine, Estonia, Italy, Hong Kong, Japan, and Canada.

When the hacking was detected last year, RBS WorldPay warned that financial account information of 1.5 million customers and the Social Security numbers of 1.1 million individuals may have been accessed by the ring.