Bank victim of record phishing strike

£600,000 stolen in long term phishing attack

Written by Tom Young

Computing, 19 Jan 2007

Sweden's largest bank, Nordea, has suffered the biggest internet fraud in history, it was announced today.

Over 8 million kronor (£600,000) has disappeared in three months as a result of tailor-made trojans launched by Russian criminals. Latest reports indicate that 250 customers have become victims so far.

The bank and the police have been unable to stop the attacks, but do have 121 people on the suspect list.

This is a worrying concern for any online bank user as the threat of cyber crime targeting 'safe' institutions becomes an increasingly real concern.

Reports of phishing attacks against Nordea Sweden popped up as early as October 2005, but according to Computer Sweden the first successful attack took place in September 2006.

The Trojan is activated when customers enter their log-in details. An error message appears and the details are sent to the phishers in the US and Russia. In some cases large amounts of money were taken from the accounts. The bank says it will compensate all victims of the attacks.

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