Police in Brazil arrest a suspect over $100M banking hack
Sao Paulo (AP) – Police Brazil Authorities said on Friday, a suspect was arrested in connection with a cyber attack that directs more than 540 million Brazilian Reais (about 100 million dollars) from the country’s banking systems.
The violation affected the instant payment system, which is commonly used as PIX, used by 76.4% of Brazil’s population. Computer pirates targeted C & M, a software company that connects financial institutions to the central bank to make PIX transactions possible.
Police in Sao Paulo said that the loss of $ 100 million means only one financial institution working with C&M and that its total losses may be even higher.
Authorities described the suspect as João Roque, a C&M employee who worked in information technology and allegedly helping others to get unauthorized access to PIX systems.
According to the police, Roque said the inspectors sold identity information to the pirates of computer hired earlier this year. Associated Press could not reach his lawyers immediately.
After violating the company’s system, the computer pirates carried out large fake pix operations. The fraud took place on a single night and did not affect customers – signed a contract with C&M only.
The police are now trying to identify other members of the group and said that at least four people participated in the cyber attack. They are also trying to monitor and freeze suspicious beings. So far, the authorities have blocked 270 million Reais affiliated to the plan.
The Central Bank of Brazil said on Thursday that the company had suspended some of C & M’s activities after taking measures to reduce the risk of further attacks.
In a statement published by the local media, C&M said that he cooperated with the authorities and that the preliminary evidence caused by unauthorized access to security identity information through social engineering, not from flaws in his systems.
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