Several leading American banks, including JPMorgan Chase and at least four other financial institutions, experienced a coordinated series of cyberattacks, confirmed by multiple sources familiar with the ongoing investigation into these incidents.
These unidentified hackers infiltrated the computer networks of these financial establishments, extracting extensive amounts of data, featuring sensitive personal checking and savings account information. Security experts have cited this as a significant, well-planned cyberattack.
The exact motive and origin of these actions remain nebulous, with ongoing investigations by the F.B.I. and multiple private cybersecurity firms conducting a comprehensive forensic review of the impacted computer networks.
Unconfirmed reports suggested the hackers breached various bank computer systems and swiped checking and savings account details from customers. The intentions behind these attacks remain ambiguous, whether driven by financial gain or as a part of a broader intelligence-gathering agenda.
JPMorgan Chase reported no notable spike in fraudulent activities, according to a source close to the case. Patricia Wexler, representing JPMorgan, indicated that sizable corporations like theirs are targeted by cyberattacks frequently. The FBI has also confirmed their involvement in assessing the full extent of these attacks and reiterated that tackling cyber criminality remains a top priority for the U.S. government.
Initial reports have suggested Russian involvement, but security experts and government officials are yet to corroborate these claims. Earlier this year, security firm iSight Partners advised companies to prepare for potential cyber attacks from Russia, in response to Western economic sanctions. Russell Meyers of CrowdStrike argued it would be precipitous to infer these were sanctions-driven attacks.
The U.S. banking sector has often been a target of hackers. While usually monetarily motivated, there have also been politically charged cyberattacks from Iran in recent years. This led to a group of Iranian hackers using a distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack to cause intermittent outages and slowdowns on several US banking sites.
While the attacks on American banks seem to have been aimed at data collection rather than disruption, it is too early to determine if they are solely financially motivated. Security professionals have not yet confirmed whether the recent series of attacks are the work of Russian hackers or politically motivated.
Cyber security researchers previously discovered a computer virus aimed at stealing login credentials to bank accounts in several major financial institutions. Evidence suggests such viruses could be state-sponsored and linked to previously detected viruses used to spy on systems within Iran.
Updated in 2025 to align with recent developments.