The Bank of Russia has prepared an overview entitled “The Main Types of Computer Attacks in the Credit and Financial Sector in 2019–2020”. In the review, the bank’s experts concluded that cybercriminals’ attacks on Russian banks in 2020 were not successful, the press service of the Central Bank of Russia reports.
It is noted that the banks in Russia managed to increase the level of protection against cyber attacks by developing information security management systems and improving the professional level of their employees. The information exchange FinCERT (a centre for monitoring and responding to computer attacks in the credit and financial sector, a special structural unit of the Bank of Russia) also contributed to the suppression of attacks at an early stage, which made it possible to promptly bring the necessary information about detected threats to all financial institutions.
At the same time, fraudsters turned their attention to clients of credit institutions. The main attack channels are the telephone and the Internet. Thus, in 2020, the Bank of Russia identified and sent for blocking 26.4 thousand phone numbers from which fraudsters called bank customers, which is almost twice (86 per cent) more than a year earlier. Also last year, the Bank of Russia initiated the blocking of about 7.7 thousand fraudulent sites. In addition, the experts noted a twofold increase in detected fake bank sites (1,034 in 2020 and 561 in 2019). Moreover, from March to May 2020, the Bank of Russia initiated the blocking of 2,200 fraudulent sites related to COVID-19.
Ru-Main, 23.03.2021
