‘Silence' hackers hit banks in BD, India, Lanka, Kyrgyzstan

A group of hackers specialized in attacking banks has hit again, and this time they've breached four targets in Asia, respectively in Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka and Kyrgyzstan, security researchers from Group-IB said, according to a report published on www.zdnet.com.

The only incident that is currently public is one impacting Dutch Bangla Bank Limited, a bank in Bangladesh, which lost more than $3 million during several rounds of ATM cash out attack that took place during the month of May, according to local media reports .

In a report shared with ZDNet prior to publication, Group-IB tied the Dutch Bangla Bank incident to a group of hackers known as "Silence."

The group, which ZDNet previously covered in a September 2018 piece, has been active since 2016 and has historically targeted banks in Russia, former Soviet states, and Eastern Europe.

According to Rustam Mirkasymov, Head of Dynamic Analysis of Malicious Code at Group-IB, this is the first time the group has ventured into Asia.

Mirkasymov told ZDNet that Group-IB has been able to tie the Dutch Bangla Bank hack to Silence's server infrastructure.

"Group-IB has the ability to actively track cybercriminals' infrastructure of this and other financially motivated cybercriminal groups," he told ZDNet in an email. "This all gives us visibility to indefinitely confirm that an infected machine inside the bank's network was communicating with Silence' infrastructure."