RBS data thieves arrested in Moscow

Three men suspected of stealing financial data belonging to Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) clients have been arrested in Moscow, a newspaper report has claimed.

According to the Financial Times, Viktor Pleshchuk has been detained by the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) for his part in a cyber-attack on an RBS payment processing unit.

Up to $9 million was taken from ATMs in 2008 after the hackers cracked an encryption code surrounding a payroll card system used by RBS WorldPay employees.

The FSB worked in conjunction with the US’s Federal Bureau of Investigation to charge Mr Pleshchuk, Estonian Sergei Tsurikov and Oleg Covelin of Moldova.

Don Jackson, a cybersecurity expert at SecureWorks, told the news provider: “I believe we are embarking on an era of genuine co-operation with Russian authorities.”

“Russian cybercriminals no longer follow hands-off rules when it comes to motherland targets, and Russian authorities are beginning to drop the laisser faire policy,” he added.

The attack took place in November 2008 and involved money being stolen from ATMS in over 280 cities.

Ex-Barclays technology programmer jailed for data theft

A former Barclays IT programmer has been imprisoned for 46 months for his part in a number of data thefts including the security breach at US retailer TJX.

Albert Gonzalez

Humza Zaman was sentenced by a court in Boston, ordered to pay a $75,000 fine and faces three years supervision following his release.

The 33 year-old is thought to have assisted Albert Gonzalez, the head of the criminal gang responsible for the TJX hacker attacks, in laundering up to $800,000.

He is alleged to have received approximately ten per cent of the stolen funds as reward for his role in the crimes, Computer World reported.

Prosecutors were quoted by the news provider as saying that the former Barclays employee "incontrovertibly knew that Gonzalez was a major hacker who profited handsomely from identity theft from major corporations".

The court papers state that Mr Haman travelled to New York to pick up money from an unidentified third party before sending it to the hacker under a false name.

He is also alleged to have used cards to withdraw money from fictitious bank accounts, then sent the money on to his criminal boss.

Gonzalez stands accused of stealing the details of more than 130 million credit cards over a six-year period starting in 2003.

Former HSBC employee steals data for 24,000 accounts

Data surrounding up to 24,000 client accounts was stolen by a former technology expert from HSBC’s Swiss subsidiary, the bank has admitted.

Hervé Falciani, an IT specialist at the Geneva branch, is thought to have committed the theft three years ago.

The crime, which was discovered during 2009, affected accounts opened before October 2006, 9,000 of which have subsequently been closed, the bank announced.

Alexandre Zeller, chief executive of the Swiss subsidiary, said: “We deeply regret the situation and unreservedly apologise to our clients for this threat to their privacy.”

HSBC is only thought to have recently uncovered the full extent of the crime perpetrated by its ex-employee.

Tax authorities in France seized the data and increased diplomatic tensions between the two countries after it announced the information would be used to crackdown on French taxpayers with Swiss accounts.

However, both countries subsequently agreed to not use the data to implement an investigation into tax evasion.

In a statement, HSBC said it did not believe that the stolen information had been used to allow third parties to access client accounts.

The bank has subsequently invested approximately $93 million on upgrading security surrounding its IT systems.