[2015-11-30] Greece says hackers hit banks with bitcoin ransom demand

[ezak]

Greece says hackers hit banks with bitcoin ransom demand

Greece's central bank has been on alert following reports of cyberattacks against three Greek banks. Sources say hackers had demanded a ransom to be paid in the bitcoin electronic currency.

 Greek police said Monday that a group calling itself Armada Collective had demanded units of the virtual currency bitcoin, redeemable for hundreds of thousands of euros, or else it would disrupt the banks' websites.

"It was a serious threat," an unnamed Bank of Greece official told the AFP news agency.

Officials from the unnamed banks said the institutions had refused to pay and instead alerted authorities. It's not unprecedented for hackers to make ransom demands with the threat of cyber attack.

Online banking disrupted

The hackers apparently made good on their threat and managed to crash the online banking services of the three banks on November 26 for several hours. Officials say no sensitive data or customer information was compromised.

"All they achieved was to block the web banking for a few hours. Nothing else," one unnamed banker told the Reuters news agency, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Central bank officials say a counter-operation by cybercrime police and the Greek intelligence agency restored the system within about an hour.

"We informed the police and the country's secret services are involved," a second banker told Reuters. "It's an easy to handle situation. There is no need for bank clients to worry."

A hacking extortion group using the same name was reported to have staged attacks against banks in Thailand in the past as well as several private email services earlier this month.

The attacks come as Greece's four main banks - National Bank, Piraeus Bank, Alpha Bank and Eurobank - are being recapitalized after suffering a deposit flight earlier this year, forcing the government to impose capital controls to keep the banks solvent.

http://www.dw.com/en/greece-says-hackers-hit-banks-with-bitcoin-ransom-demand/a-18885881

[eddie13]

Great, just what bitcoin needs, more negative publicity... The force is strong with the media propaganda. Maybe they are trying to get everyone conditioned up nice for their "major crackdown on cryptocurrencies" stuff they been blabbin about..

[Kakmakr]

Well it is one of two things, One > The Bank shills at work to discredit Bitcoin again OR Two > It is really a threat and the hackers are targeting the banks. I struggle to find any sympathy for them, after the way they handled the citizens in that country during the Greek economic crisis.

I am not saying, what the hackers are doing is right, but I will not shed a tear if it happens. They should feel how it feels to normal people, to lose control of your own business to a third party.

It is still a criminal act, and the people responsible would have to take responsibility for their actions. Our whole community will be tainted, if it turns out to be one of our own. 

[1Referee]

Greece banks must be feeling threatened right now, right?  Greece banks have been terrorizing their custommers for ages, and now the tide is turning, and put the banks in the position of their custommers. That's how it feels to worry constantly if your money is safe and you are not being screwed.

To a certain extent I don't care that these banks are being attacked, but it's not nice that their custommers are the ones who are actually going to pay the price for this. We'll see how this situation ends.