More and more details are becoming available related to the Tesco Bank hack a few days ago. With thousands of customers affected, it became apparent that this is not a run-of-the-mill cyber heist. Statistics indicate that over £2.5m has been returned to Tesco bank users, as the amount of stolen funds was far higher than originally anticipated.
A Big Step Back For Tesco Bank And Customers
Even though this bank heist is not as spectacular as others taking place in 2016, the theft of £2.5m is not something to sneeze at. What is rather unusual is how earlier reports indicated that over 20,000 users fell victim to suspicious attacks. Of these 20,000, only 9,0000 customers were effectively refunded, which begs the question what happened to the rest.
Tesco Bank claims that the number of affected users was far lower than the initially reported 20,000. Given the number of issues users had to deal with, it is not uncommon to see widespread panic and confusion. Having 9,000 users affected by a sudden cyber heist is still a worrisome development for the UK bank, though.
All of those users have seen their lost funds restored, and the investigation into the heist is still ongoing as we speak. All services should be available to Tesco Bank users once again in the coming hours. This is particularly good news for the bank’s clients, although there are still a lot of questions waiting to be answered.
Specific details regarding the cyber heist remain shrouded in mystery for the time being. It appears that engineers have managed to address the security vulnerability, and the threat should be eliminated at this point. No one knows what allowed hackers to access the bank’s systems and withdraw cash without raising suspicion, though.
Thankfully, no personal user data was compromised during this attack. The National Crime Agency is still investigating the matter, and the fraudsters must be brought to justice. To do so, Tesco Bank is collaborating with regulators to track down the stolen funds. Laundering £2.5m is not an easy feat by any means.
Although this news is not overly positive, the heist itself remains unprecedented. In this day and age of hacking, data breaches, and malware, lackluster security can be the downfall for any enterprise or institution. Banks need to step up their security game to keep customer funds safe, as they are currently a target with a big bull’s- eye.
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