Major Security Breach Hits Brazil’s Banking Infrastructure; Lost $140M

• C&M Software is a Brazilian technology provider that was attacked by hackers who accessed the reserves of financial institutions.

• The attack was an insider threat in which the hackers bought employee log-in credentials for about $2,700.

This week, Brazil experienced a devastating cyberattack that hit the central banking system and caused enormous financial losses to several institutions. Hackers were able to hack C&M Software which is a vital service provider that links the Central Bank of Brazil to the local financial institutions. The hack resulted in the loss of 800 million Brazilian reais, which is about 140 million USD. The attack shows how vulnerable centralized financial systems are becoming as cybercriminals are getting more and more sophisticated in their approach.

Employee Betrayal Enables Massive Theft

The breach of security was done by an insider threat scenario, which shows the inherent weaknesses of centralized systems. A worker at C&M Software is accused of selling access credentials to hackers for around $2,700, which is not a huge amount. Such credentials gave hackers direct access to the software platform that controlled reserve accounts in six financial institutions.

Having entered the system, the attackers were soon able to convert and launder the stolen funds using cryptocurrency channels. According to blockchain analyst ZachXBT, hackers exchanged between $30 and $40 million dollars into Bitcoin, Ethereum, and USDT. These digital assets were then laundered by the criminals using Latin American exchanges and over-the-counter trading platforms.

This event is a worrying trend in which centralized systems are becoming interesting targets to cybercriminals in order to get maximum returns. Security professionals predict that these attacks are becoming more advanced and difficult to identify with the help of artificial intelligence tools.

The industry experts claim that decentralized blockchain technologies would offer superior protection against such massive breaches. Zero-knowledge proofs and other technologies compel attackers to attack individual accounts instead of centralized databases with millions of records.

The CEO of Shielded Technologies pointed out that hackers like to attack centralized systems since they have access to large volumes of information and funds. In the case of decentralized systems, the cost-benefit ratio of attacking is much lower, and cybercriminals are not motivated to attack.

This hack is a sharp reminder of how much more needs to be done to ensure better cybersecurity of the financial infrastructure. As AI-assisted hacking is increasing, financial firms should focus on some remarkable security measures so that they may save their system from cyber threats.

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