Prague – ČSOB was faced with a cyber attack today, due to which some of its banking services did not work for several hours. In the morning, internet banking and banking applications were down, and it was not possible to pay with a payment card on the internet. Before 1:30 p.m., services were available again, according to the bank's statement on Twitter. At the same time, it stated that its internal systems were not affected by the attack and all finances and client data are safe.
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In the morning, the bank informed that internet banking and the Smart application are not working and it is not possible to pay with a payment card on the internet. At the same time, it announced a possible limitation of services in the branch network of the ČSOB group and at Czech Post. “Currently, all services are functional, in rare cases there may be an outage,” the bank said twenty minutes after 1 p.m.
According to the security company Check Point, the pro-Russian hacker group NoName057(16) is behind the attacks, which has previously tried to influence the Czech presidential election by repeatedly attacking government websites, the websites of some presidential candidates and important companies in the manufacturing sector.
< p>“Now we have seen a massive wave of attacks on ČSOB and also on the Slovak ministries of the interior and defense or the energy company Slovenské elektrárne. The group brags about the attacks on its website, it is supposed to be another retaliation for supporting Ukraine. Hackers from this group have been attacking since the beginning of the war around the world and attack countries that try to support Ukraine in some way,” said Miloslav Lujka from Check Point. “The group communicates primarily through Telegram, where it has a main Russian-language channel with more than 20,000 members, a channel in English, and in addition offers volunteers to participate in the DDosia Projects project, in which volunteers can participate in planned attacks. The most active of them even receive financial rewards up to CZK 25,000,” he added.
Hacker attacks have been on the rise recently. In January, the National Office for Cyber Security recorded a more than double increase in such incidents compared to December, a total of 21. It assessed two of them as significant, very significant there were none. According to the authority, the number of cyber incidents in January was generally above average, almost reaching the maximum from last April, when the authority registered 22 such attacks.
ČSOB Group is one of the largest domestic banking institutions, with 4.34 million clients Its net profit rose by nine percent to 17.5 billion crowns last year.The group includes ČSOB, Hypoteční banka, ČSOB Stavební spořitelna, ČSOB Penzijní společnos t, ČSOB Leasing and ČSOB Factoring.
