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Greek Banks Under Cyberattack, Face Ransom Demands (ft.com)

Posted by Soulskill on from the kicking-them-when-they're-down dept.

An anonymous reader writes: Hackers have targeted three Greek banks for a third time in five days, demanding a ransom from each lender of 20,000 bitcoin (€7m), according to Greek police and the country's central bank. A group calling itself the Armada Collective demanded the bitcoin ransom after staging its first attacks last Thursday, and then threatened a full collapse of the unnamed banks' websites if they refused to pay up. These initial attacks took the form of a distributed denial of service — flooding the banks' websites with requests so that they crashed under the strain. On Thursday, they succeeded in disrupting electronic transactions at all three banks for a short period, but customer information was protected, a police official said.

18 of 42 comments (clear)

  1. Or else *WHAT*? Wreck the Greek economy? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    This is like approaching the owner of a rust-and-bondo 1977 Pinto after he parks and demanding $100 or else "something might happen to the car's paint job".

    Kinda makes you wonder just how stupid the extortionists are...

    1. Re:Or else *WHAT*? Wreck the Greek economy? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      They should have targeted the boss of all imaginary currencies...The Federal Reserve.

    2. Re:Or else *WHAT*? Wreck the Greek economy? by unixisc · · Score: 2

      That same thought struck me as well. If you're robbing a bank, why not target one that actually has cash?

      Why not target institutions of OPEC countries, which actually have cash to burn?

    3. Re:Or else *WHAT*? Wreck the Greek economy? by PPH · · Score: 1

      Where's Willie Sutton when they need him?

      --
      Have gnu, will travel.
  2. Re:greek banks by ArchieBunker · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Haha I was thinking the same thing. Blackmail a bankrupt country. Brilliant plan.

    --
    Only the State obtains its revenue by coercion. - Murray Rothbard
  3. Re:greek banks by rmdingler · · Score: 1
    Well, maybe, but they are certainly less likely to be able to afford state-of-the-art security systems.

    Should we suppose the banks in Greece are substantially different from those the world over??

    Sure, the customers are out of viable currency...

    --
    Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know.

    Ernest Hemingway

  4. Can someone remind me, please... by tlambert · · Score: 1

    Can someone remind me, please... why do banks need web sites, when there are ATMs everywhere?

    1. Re:Can someone remind me, please... by SeaFox · · Score: 2

      Can someone remind me, please... why do banks need web sites, when there are ATMs everywhere?

      So I can manage my money without having to go to an ATM?
      Also. it's a whole lot easier to set up automated payments for a biller when I can type the biller's info on a full keyboard.

    2. Re:Can someone remind me, please... by tlambert · · Score: 1

      Can someone remind me, please... why do banks need web sites, when there are ATMs everywhere?

      So I can manage my money without having to go to an ATM?
      Also. it's a whole lot easier to set up automated payments for a biller when I can type the biller's info on a full keyboard.

      You mean like the ones they have at your local bank branch?

      Or are you arguing that a convenience is worth paying the ransom on your account?

    3. Re:Can someone remind me, please... by michelcolman · · Score: 1

      Let's see, which would I prefer...

      Go out in the rain, stand in line for an ATM. Then, when it's my turn, get out the piece of paper on which I printed the info, awkwardly type it in while a bunch of impatient people are waiting behind me and looking over my shoulder. Hope I won't get mugged. Then back into the rain to go back home.

      Or...

      Stay right here on my sofa, go to the bank website, securely enter my credentials, copy/paste the payment info, send. Done before I would have had my coat and shoes on.

      Frankly, I feel more secure with the second method, thank you. As long as the bank uses two factor identification, that is. (Which, since you're probably American, means that you get some sort of device, code card or card reader that spits out a one time code every time so you can't just log in by cracking someone's password like you can on many American bank websites). If someone can crack that, they can crack the bank's servers anyway so it doesn't matter whether or not I use personal banking.

  5. Angela Merkel by PPH · · Score: 1

    Plz go.

    --
    Have gnu, will travel.
  6. Kick me when I'm down by pz · · Score: 1

    Attacking the Greek banks is like taking food from a homeless person. Sure, it's easy, but why be so vicious?

    If a Greek bank collapses, real people suffer. Blameless people suffer. It's like kicking a dying dog: there's no excuse for it, it's just mean.

    Someone should identify the perps and make them endure the equivalent hardship to what they are causing.

    --

    Put my fist through my alarm clock with its ding-dong death inside my ear. - The Blackjacks.
    1. Re:Kick me when I'm down by realkiwi · · Score: 1

      You stole my post title!

      Who are these no lives? Are they the same guys who off with a beggars hat full of coins?

      --
      realkiwi
    2. Re:Kick me when I'm down by Coren22 · · Score: 1

      The blind beggar's hat at that.

      --
      APK likes to ask for responses to the same things over and over. Maybe he just likes the responses?
  7. Re:Greek Bank? by michelcolman · · Score: 1

    I immediately thought of U2, but there's plenty more.

  8. Re:Website takedown worth â7M? by Big+Hairy+Ian · · Score: 1

    Actually the DOS attack is probably just a diversion whilst they hack into the bank and pick the bankers pocket.

    --

    Build a Man a Fire, and He'll Be Warm for a Day. Set a Man on Fire, and He'll Be Warm for the Rest of His Life.

  9. Re:Greek Bank? by Muad'Dave · · Score: 1

    A bit old-school, but how about Enya?

    --
    Tiller's Rule: Never use a word in written form that you've only heard and never read. You will end up looking foolish.
  10. Don't worry, everyone! by Gravis+Zero · · Score: 1

    When the country collapses, I'm sure the bankers will be the first to be lined up against the wall. There's always a silver lining!

    --
    Anons need not reply. Questions end with a question mark.