Hackers target JPMorgan Chase, other big banks

(Image credit: Andrew Burton/Getty Images)

last updated 8 January 2015

Computer hackers hit JPMorgan Chase and at least four other banks in a coordinated attack this month, Bloomberg News reports, citing an unidentified U.S. official, and the FBI is looking for links to Russia.

Customer data was stolen, but the report didn't specify if that included account numbers, passwords, or credit card numbers. Authorities are concerned that the hackers could drain accounts, but as of Wednesday afternoon no suspicious activity had been discovered.

It's rare for major banks to get hit because of their high levels of security. Bloomberg reported earlier Wednesday that the FBI is looking into whether it was Russian hackers who attacked JPMorgan and at least one other institution, in retaliation for sanctions over Russia's involvement in the Ukraine. "The way the Russians do it, to the extent we can see into the process, is they encourage certain targets," says James Lewis, director of the Strategic Technologies program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. "The Russians typically keep open the options to do something more, and the question now is what would trigger that and what would our response be."

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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.

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