14 DAY TRIAL // Three members of an organized cybercriminal group operating in Romania and abroad have been arrested by the Directorate for Investigating Organized Crime and Terrorism (DIICOT) for trying to rob a Romanian bank.
Romanian national George Tohaneanu delivered two other members of the group (Israeli citizens Iahr Giora and Azouri Oren Avraham) malicious software along with information on the capabilities of the program and tried to plant it on the network of a Spanish bank’s system through a third party.
The cybercriminals recruited bank employees promising them between 8% and 10% of the proceedings that would be stolen.
Malware allowed remote access to bank computers
The trio ran its activity between November 2014 and February 2015, and it also included laundering activities of money they knew was obtained from illegal activities.
It is alleged that Avraham received and delivered to Giora at least three electronic devices with malware pieces that could access a restricted information system without authorization with admin privileges, collect data and control it from a remote location.
The two Israeli nationals are also accused enabling, between December 16, 2014, and February 9, 2015, remote access through the malware to an individual that could control the computer systems of a bank.
According to DIICOT, the cybercriminals managed to infiltrate the network of Romanian CEC Bank, but failed to compromise the databases with financial information and customer data.
State secrets accessed
Once the malware was planted on the target network, it would allow the attacker to move laterally to an unrestricted number of systems.
The law enforcement agency says that Giora and Avraham enabled members of a foreign organization located in Israel access to data and information that are considered to be national secrets, as per Romanian legislation.
Although the cybercriminal operation allowed exfiltration of sensitive information, it was not successful reaching its purpose, stealing large amounts of money from Romanian banks.
All three have been arrested and await trial. They are considered innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.