Cyber Thieves Claim To Hit Two Big Canadian Banks (reuters.com)

New submitter Heritype writes: Bank of Montreal, Canada's fourth biggest lender, said on Monday it was contacted by fraudsters on Sunday who claimed they were in possession of the personal and financial information of a limited number of the bank's customers. The bank said it believed the attack originated from outside the country and was confident the exposures that led to the theft of customer data had been closed off.

Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, Canada's fifth biggest lender, said fraudsters contacted the lender on Sunday claiming they had electronically stolen personal and account information of 40,000 customers of its Simplii direct banking brand.
Other Canadian banks said they had not been affected. Further reading: BMO and CIBC-owned Simplii Financial reveal hacks of customer data.

Comments

Actually made public.

[ls671]

The unusual part of this is that this one got published. Usually, nobody ever hears about such things although they happen more often that you might come to expect at first.

Why would they do that?

[houghi]

Why would they claim to have done it? Even if true, why would they admit to it, even anonymously. Most thieves would want this sort of thing never to get public and will deny everything from the start.

Or might it be the bank that claims it? That would be worse. Why would they claim it and not state it. Are they not sure that it happened? Or are they not sure that it was theft or even illegal and not just a standard transaction?
I can imagine the call I might get:
"We have no idea where your money went. Probably some hackors or russions or terroristsers. You know how it is with these Intertubes. Oh well. These things happen. If we get your money back somehow, we will call you. Now have a nice day and sorry."

Re:Why would they do that?

[sinij]

Why would they claim to have done it?

Likely it was a blackmail attempt and public disclosure is a result of failing to pay.l