Hackers arrested after Russia Central Bank cyberheist

Several suspects have been arrested in connection with the cyber-robbery that left the Russian Central Bank without $19 million, according to Reuters.

The Federal Security Service (FSB) and the Interior Ministry have arrested “a large number of people” after an operation conducted in May, however, they declined to provide names or other details.

The FSB is said to have detained some 50 people suspected of stealing over $27 million from undisclosed Russian financial institutions, but did not specify whether the Russian Central Bank was among the victims.

In June, hackers broke into the RCB and got away with rubles worth $31 million. They used fake credentials to log in to an electronic system that gives clients access to correspondent accounts held within the bank.

“The payment system of the Bank of Russia cannot in any way be implicated,” Bank of Russia Deputy Head Artyom Sychyov told Reuters.

The bank revealed the attack in a sparse passage on page 37 of a financial stability report published last Friday.

“Cyber risks potentially can have severe implications for the financial system,” the report reads. “In this respect the efforts of credit institutions to improve their information systems and other risk management aspects, as well as information exchange on cyber-attacks with regulators and other market participants, gain more importance