Hackers Steal $31M from Russian Central Bank

Russian central bank officials said Dec. 2 hackers stole the equivalent of $31 million, though they were attempting to make off with more than double that.

A bank spokeswoman told The Wall Street Journal although she could confirm the theft happened, she couldn’t say when it occurred. She also said the hackers targeted 5 billion rubles (about $79 million), but the bank was able to recover some funds.

Reuters reported the cyberattacks focused on the correspondent accounts of other financial institutions, using faked client credentials to access the system. Correspondent accounts allow money to move between different banks in multiple currencies both domestically and internationally.

This theft comes after high-profile cyberattacks on the financial services industry, including $81 million stolen from Bangladesh's central bank via the SWIFT messaging system and manipulation of ATMs around the world.