China’s Top Bank Paid Ransom After

Cyber Attack, Gang Says

November 14, 2023
Notorious hacking gang Lock bit claims the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China paid a ransom
to resolve the attack on the bank’s unit in the United States

The cyber-attack on the bank's US broker-dealer left it temporarily owing BNY Mellon $9 billion. That
forced its head office to relay funds to sort out problem. This Reuters image shows an ICBC bank branch
in China in October 2020.

The Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) has paid a ransom to notorious gang of cyber-
criminals who hacked the bank last week.
That claim came from a representative of the Lock bit ransomware gang, in a statement sent on Monday
to Reuters, which the news agency was unable to independently verify, as ICBC has yet to confirm or
deny the claim.
The US arm of China’s biggest bank was hit by a ransomware attack that disrupted trades in the US
Treasury market last Thursday.
“They paid a ransom, deal closed,” the Lock bit representative told Reuters via Tox, an online messaging
app.
The ransomware attack came at a time of heightened worries about the resiliency of the Treasury market,
essential to the ‘plumbing’ of global finance.
The blackout at the bank’s US broker-dealer left it temporarily owing BNY Mellon $9 billion, an
amount many times larger than its net capital.
The hack was so extensive that even corporate email at the firm ceased to function, forcing employees to
switch to Google mail.
“The market is mostly back to normal now,” said Zhiwei Ren, a portfolio manager at Penn Mutual Asset
Management.

Ransom attacks soar

Lock bit has hacked some of the world’s largest organizations in recent months, stealing and leaking
sensitive data in cases where victims refused to pay ransom.
In just three years, it has become the world’s top ransomware threat, according to US officials.
Nowhere has it been more disruptive than in the United States, hitting more than 1,700 American
organizations in every sector from financial services and food to schools, transportation, and government
departments.
Last week, Lock bit hackers published internal data from aerospace giant Boeing and said on their
website they had infected computer systems at London-founded law firm Allen & Overy.
 Some netizens in Southeast Asia form groups of cyber warriors to dox Israeli soldiers,
cyberbully opponents.

An analyst says such actions give netizens a sense of purpose and a means of “taking
action” but suggests other forms of activism could be more effective.

Social media app icons on an iPhone. (Photo: Unsplashed/Julian Christ)

Listen to this article.
Rhea Yasmine Alis Haizan
02 Dec 2023 06:00AM (Updated: 02 Dec 2023 07:59AM)
SINGAPORE: Netizens from some Southeast Asian countries have been mounting online campaigns against
Israelis as well as against responses of various governments towards the Israel-Hamas war that has dragged on
for close to two months.
In Indonesia and Malaysia, netizens have been attacking and cyberbullying soldiers in the Israel Defense Forces
(IDF) by spamming their social media accounts through calls, comments, and messages, in a bid to demoralize
them.

Meanwhile, with domestic laws forbidding physical protests about the Israel-Hamas war, much of the debate
among Singaporeans has taken place online.

The Singapore Police Force on Oct 18 said that events and public assemblies in relation to the Israel-Hamas
conflict will not be permitted due to public safety and security concerns, given the heightened tensions.

Some netizens in the region, based on the language used or the country name identified in their social media
accounts, have criticized the Singapore government’s approach, while others have taken issue with certain
groups in Singapore who are apathetic towards the conflict.

An analyst told CNA that such movements and actions give netizens located far from the war zone a sense of
purpose and a means of “taking action” but suggested that other forms of activism could be more effective.
https://www.asiafinancial.com/chinas-top-bank-paid-ransom-after-cyber-attack-gang-says

https://www.cftc.gov/LearnAndProtect/AdvisoriesAndArticles/6Steps.html

https://www.police.gov.sg/Media-Room/News/20230916_police_advisory_on_fake_online_job_scams

https://cyberbullying.org/bullying-and-religion

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/qjPKEDdZm34

https://www.channelnewsasia.com/asia/southeast-asia-social-media-online-activism-dox-israel-hamas-
war-palestinians-3958491