THE CRUNCH
Crédit Mutuel Arkéa, a major French banking group, has confirmed it suffered a "sophisticated attack" after a blockchain investigator estimated hackers stole more than $133 million from the firm. The bank says customer accounts were never accessed and that the incident is now under control.
According to the bank's statement, the attackers compromised an unnamed supplier and used that access to reach the banking group directly. They then used Arkéa's own account to move money to other banking institutions, which could then be converted into cryptocurrency via specialised platforms. The bank disputed local reports that the initial transfers went through Fortuneo, its online banking subsidiary, saying instead that the attackers had gone through a service provider's platform to obtain direct access to the banking group itself.
The theft estimate comes from ZachXBT, a pseudonymous American blockchain investigator who first reported the incident on Monday and traced withdrawals from cryptocurrency exchange accounts and transactions apparently intended to launder the assets. Arkéa declined to confirm the exact figure but said it could "validate the order of magnitude."
Some of the converted assets have been frozen, and the bank says it is working to recover the rest. It stressed the sum was not large enough to threaten its solvency, noting its total assets exceed £237 billion in its most recent annual report, and that it is working with judicial and police authorities to establish the attack's origin and methods.