Canada: Hackers threaten to compromise personal data of 100,000 customers of two Canadian banks
Ottawa, May 30 (IBNS): Hackers have allegedly threatened to compromise of personal information of nearly 100,000 customers of two Canadian banks unless the lenders pay a $1-million ransom for its safe return, media reports said.
During the weekend, Bank of Montreal and online bank Simplii Financial, owned by CIBC learnt that the identifying personal information of a combined 90,000 different account holders at the two banks was stolen.
The thieves were reportedly able to exploit weaknesses in the two banks' security systems to get access to information such as names, account numbers, passwords, security questions and answers, and even social insurance numbers and account balances.
"We warned BMO and Simplii that we would share their customers informations if they don't cooperate," a Russian-based email purportedly from the thieves said on Monday evening.
The email had also explained how they hacked the accounts by using a common mathematical algorithm.
The email demanded a ransom of $1 million in a cryptocurrency known as Ripple in return for the safety of the data before 12 am Tuesday.
But reportedly both the banks had not paid any ransom.
The worrisome fact, however, was the presence of huge gaps in the banking system.
(Reporting by Asha Bajaj)
Image:Bank of Montreal/Facebook
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