Who needs cryptocurrency when you can just steal pesos?
Media reports are now saying losses from a series of cyber attacks on Mexican banks in April and May 2018 could be the equivalent of $15-20 million U.S. dollars.
And investigators are apparently looking at some—or all of it—being from an insider threat that turned into an inside job.
Reuters reported today on how the Mexican bank cyber attacks worked:
"Thieves siphoned hundreds of millions of pesos out of Mexican banks, including No. 2 Banorte, by creating phantom orders that wired funds to fake accounts and promptly withdrew the money, two sources close to the government’s investigation said."
Accomplices then withdrew the money in several dozen bank branches around Mexico, where large withdrawals are uncommon. So at least some on "the inside" were apparently in on that part of the heist.
Lorenza Martinez, head of Banxico’s payment system, told Reuters, ”In terms of the security of the bank’s offices, I think that is part of the analysis that each bank is doing.”
But what about the cyber attack and fake account setup that made it possible? Was that an inside job?
The analysis continues.