Most Russians have not experienced the consequences of hacker attacks on banks

The overwhelming majority of Russians (86%) have never become victims of attacks by criminals directly on banks, when, due to the actions of hackers, the services of credit institutions were also unavailable.

This was shown by a VTB survey conducted as part of the analytical review “Security in the Bank of the Future”.

The remaining 14% of respondents responded that they had experienced the consequences of an attack on a bank. Half of these respondents reported that they had lost money due to such attacks, either because they were unable to access their bank funds on time or because attackers gained access to their bank accounts. 70% of Russians who lost their money as a result of an attack on a bank were able to return the stolen funds – in full or in part.

At the same time, the majority of respondents – 84% – have never encountered hacker attacks on them as bank clients by hacking their personal account on the website or mobile application of a credit institution.

Survey participants also answered the question whether they had been victims of fraud in cases where attackers tried to steal funds by fraudulent means. Of those who experienced such attacks, 64% reported that they did not lose their money. Either they themselves “saw through” the scammers (44%) and did not fall for their tricks, or they were convinced of the fraud by bank employees (20%). 36% of victims (about 6% of Russians in general) transferred their money to the attackers.

Despite cases of hacker attacks, Russians are not inclined to blame banks alone. More than half of respondents (57%) believe that each case when attackers attack the infrastructure of banks or the clients themselves should be considered separately.

Every fifth Russian (20%) is convinced that it is impossible to close absolutely all vulnerabilities in the huge infrastructure of banks and attackers will always try to steal money – from the bank or from its clients.

“The development of technology, on the one hand, will make banking services more personalized and convenient, but on the other hand, will lead to new challenges in security issues. Both banks and clients should be prepared for these challenges. We have already found ourselves in a situation in which the loss of the “key to one door” by the user is fraught with the loss of “keys to all doors.” Users will need to be even more vigilant in protecting their personal and financial data,” says Vadim Kulik, Deputy President and Chairman of the Board of VTB.

“The main goal of attackers when attacking banks and their clients is to obtain money. Fraudsters often try to obtain loans for large amounts by providing false documents and information about their financial capabilities. However, we also know of isolated cases on the market with fake passports. But there are also more sophisticated attacks. For example, hackers use encryption viruses to try to corrupt the infrastructure of banks in order to extort money. In general, fraudsters try to exploit some vulnerabilities of credit institutions, but in all these cases, damage is caused only to the bank, and not to its clients,” says Dmitry Revyakin, vice president of VTB, head of the department for protecting corporate interests of the security department.