Financial institution cyber-attacks underline heightened menaces against banking establishments, as demonstrated by the latest breach at First Horizon.
In a recent SEC filing, First Horizon Bank, a Memphis, Tennessee-based financial institution, announced a data breach that occurred in mid-April. The breach allowed an unauthorized party to access less than 200 online accounts, resulting in the theft of personal information and funds not exceeding $1 million.
The bank, following its merger with Iberiabank last year, now has $79 billion in assets and $60 billion in deposits. Despite the breach, the bank does not expect it to have a materially adverse impact on its financial condition or business operations.
The data breach was a result of a supply-chain attack, exploiting a security vulnerability in the third-party software provider, Salesloft Drift. This vulnerability also affected other companies, including Zscaler and Cloudflare, through compromised Salesforce instances. The software vulnerability has since been fixed.
Affected customers are being assisted in closing and reopening their accounts. The bank officials could not be immediately reached for comment regarding the recent data breach. However, it was confirmed that the funds stolen in the breach have been reimbursed.
The report, based on interviews with 126 chief information security officers from across the globe, shows that cyberattacks against financial institutions have become more frequent and destructive. This trend has been observed since the COVID-19 pandemic began, with a surge in cyberattacks against financial institutions, particularly since early 2020.
A separate report from VMware indicates a similar surge, with 56% of U.S. and U.K. banks and insurers experiencing a surge in financial losses related to cyber activity over the last year, averaging about $720,000 per incident. The report does not provide specific details about the number of banks and insurers affected by the surge in cyberattacks.
The report from BAE Systems Applied Intelligence states that attackers are building increasingly advanced capabilities to target core banking systems and becoming more aggressive. Law enforcement and other appropriate authorities have been notified about the breach.
It was also reported that 54% of financial institutions experienced destructive attacks against their organization, representing a 118% increase from 2020 figures. The report does not specify the nature or source of the destructive attacks experienced by financial institutions.
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