Another UAE bank has been targeted by an international hacking ring.
American prosecutors say it is the largest computer hacking case ever uncovered in the US. According to an indictment released this week, the group hacked into an Abu Dhabi bank for two years and stole thousands of credit card numbers. They then sold the card numbers to criminals around the world.
One defendant, Alexsandr Kalinin of St Petersburg in Russia, allegedly gained access to the Abu Dhabi bank’s computer system. Emails show that his co-accused, Vladimir Drinkman of Moscow, then asked a third defendant, Dimitri Smilianets, also of Russia, to open an account at the bank so they could understand how its computer system operated.
From 2010 to 2012, Drinkman, Kalinin and a fourth man, Roman Kotov, allegedly targeted the bank using a hacked online server previously used in other attacks. In all, the gang are accused of stealing 180 million credit card numbers from banks and retailers around the world.
Of the 16 companies hit, the Abu Dhabi bank is the only one not named because bank officials told US police they did not want any negative publicity. The case comes just months after a case in New York in which a Russian and Ukrainian gang cloned ATM cards and stole $5 million from UAE-based RAKBank in just one night.- 7days
