Cyber attacks on financial giants is not a new story these days, every now and then the hacktivist groups carry attacks on these capitalistic institutions, yet every attack has its own charm and a threat to these sectors.
This is the case when attacks are carried against the leading banks of the ”world’s super power” commonly known as the United States, it pushes the economy and the financial industry to darkness.
September 2012, happened to be the most deadly month for the leading banks and financial giants of the world, as the websites of Bank of America, New York Stock Exchange and JP Morgon were attacked and taken down by the hackers for several hours. The attacks were so ruthless that The Financial Services ISAC (Information Sharing and Analysis Center) had to set its ”threat level” to ”High”.
Cyber attacks carried out in the month of September had their own reasons, some call it as politically motivated cyber attacks and some call it religiously motivated hacktivism. Yet it does not change the fact that hackers have decided to take down the monopolistic financial centers and put them in their place.
Morning of September 19, hacking group by the name of Izz ad-Din al Qassam Cyber Fighters from Iraq successfully hacked and defaced the websites of Bank of America and NY Stock exchange, which was a religious back cyber attack, as the group had left their message against the anti-Islamic video and the US Government.
Izz ad-Din al Qassam Cyber Fighters are the same minds behind the cyber-attack on US Banks, Wells Fargo and PNC.
Wells Fargo confirmed the cyber-attack via their Twitter account, ”We apologize to customers who may be experiencing limited access to @WellsFargo.com & online banking. We are working to quickly”…
Meanwhile the officials from US government and members of congress have decided not to change their approach over recent cyber-attacks, the U.S. Senator Joe Lieberman during an interview blamed Iranian government and its elite Quds hacking Force for the attacks.
”I believe that recent cyber-attacks on our banks and institution were vengeance as the US is ready to put more sections on Iran over nuclear program”, however Senator Joe Lieberman failed to provide any kind of evidence or document to prove his own claim. While Iranian officials Gholam Reza Jalali called the blames ”rubbish” and denied thatIran is involved in any sort of cyber-attack on the US banks.
The message left by the hackers on the hacked websites clearly stated that they are from Iraq and the reason to hack such sites was to protest against the anti-Islamic movie, the message posted on PasteBin said, ”These series of attacks will continue until the Erasing of that nasty movie from the Internet.”
As far as political or social activism is concerned, anonymous hackers are doing their job, in recent years the anonymous hackers have done enough damage to the websites of banks and different financial giants all over the globe.
The taking down of CapitalOne Bank, recent attack on Philippine Central Bank, three major Brazilian banks, hacking and leaking email address of Bank of America employees, operation Robin Hood against major financial firms and the banks of the world and not to forget Anonymous Takes From The Rich, Gives To Poor operation against the leading banks are few examples of how the Hackers have begun to fight back against the elites of the world.
Last but not the least, legacy carried out by the hackers will live forever, their stand against the financial powers has become a continuous suffering for the monopolistic elite.