The scope of yesterday's computer attack against JPMorgan Chase and at least one other bank appears to be much larger than initially reported.
In addition to possibly affecting seven financial organizations, instead of two as originally reported, some bank records at JPMorgan were altered and possibly deleted, reported CNN, citing unnamed sources. The source of the attacks is not yet known.
Getting access to bank records is uncommon but not unheard for hackers, who often change computer logs to cover their tracks but can't always get to more sensitive data, said RedSeal cybersecurity expert Robert Capps.
"Being able to change bank records is an interesting, but not novel, approach to unlawful enrichment," he said. "There have been reports of embezzlement and outright theft by malicious insiders, since computerized banking records have been in existence."
This case, however, involved outsiders who targeted specific employees at JPMorgan Chase to gain access to their computers and the bank databases. The Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Secret Service, which are investigating the breach, have not said whether customer bank records or identity details were compromised.
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Adam Kujawa, head of Malware Intelligence at Malwarebytes Labs, said that it wasn't likely that this kind of attack came from your "average cybercriminal."
"If hackers are capable of accomplishing this, it means they have spent a significant amount of time studying the
