Russian Hackers Broke Into American Banks

And it looks like a government job. The hackers hit JP Morgan Chase and another unidentified US bank, according to Bloomberg News. The FBI is investigating.

The attack, which occurred in mid-August, resulted in the loss of gigabytes of sensitive data, and authorities are investigating whether recent infiltrations of major European banks using a similar vulnerability are also linked to the attack, one of the people said.

In one case, the hackers used a zero-day vulnerability in one of the banks’ websites, then plowed through layers of elaborate security to steal the data, a feat several security experts said appeared far beyond the capability of ordinary criminal hackers. The incidents occurred at a low point in relations between Russia and the West, as Russian troops continue to mass on the Ukrainian border and the West tightens sanctions aimed at crippling Russian companies, including some of the country’s most important banks.

Rogue retaliatory sanctions?