The authorities in Reggio Calabria have launched a judicial investigation into a cyberattack on the financial platform Revolut. In the attack, hackers made use of a compromised official e-mail account belonging to the Italian prefecture. Using that account, they posed as government officials and requested sensitive customer data from Revolut. The digital bank confirmed that the personal data of around 680 European users had been affected. According to the company, customer funds and Revolut’s internal systems were not impacted, according to The Financial Times.
A criminal group calling itself iamnotavillain is demanding $3 million (€2.61 million) to prevent the stolen files from being sold. The hackers want the payment in Monero, a cryptocurrency known for its privacy features. If the amount is not paid within 24 hours, the group is threatening to sell the data to other criminal organisations.
The group made the ransom demand public via its website. According to The Financial Times, this is unusual, as such demands are generally made privately at first. To back up their claims, the attackers sent the newspaper a video of around a minute in which someone leafs through a collection of documents. The hackers claim to have a total of 147GB of data in their possession. This is said to include passport details, driving licences, other identity documents and photos.
Because a government body is involved in the case, the National Directorate for the Fight against the Mafia and Terrorism is assisting with the investigation. The Italian cybercrime police describe the operation as sophisticated and say the attackers requested data over a period of several months.
Investigators are currently trying to determine whether the attackers gained access to a computer belonging to the prefecture of Reggio Calabria or to the Italian Ministry of the Interior. They are also investigating whether the hackers accessed the official e-mail account directly or used a copy of it.
Supervisors checking Italian banks
The Italian data protection authority is also involved in the investigation. The regulator has begun inspections at Italian banks to identify possible security weaknesses. Officials have been instructed to report any vulnerabilities immediately.
In addition, the Italian regulator is working together with the Lithuanian authorities. Revolut has legally based its European banking activities in Lithuania. The exchange of information is intended to help map out the attack method used in more detail and to prevent similar incidents.
The investigation must ultimately clarify how the attackers gained access to the government account, how the data was obtained and whether other government bodies were also targeted.
Finding out if you have been affected is a similar process. Simply ask the customer service chatbot in the Revolut app and you will told immediately if you data has been stolen. According to the company only 12 Irish users have been affected.
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