The largest theft of financial institution customer data of all time has been revealed. Among the banking institutions, JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Dow Jones & Co. stand out.
US prosecutors announced that this is the largest data theft in history and brought charges against four men accused of illegal activities such as stock manipulation and operating online casino-style gambling, which earned them hundreds of millions of dollars.
Prosecutors say the defendants targeted financial institutions, publishers, brokers and software companies. According to the indictment, they worked with stock promoters to inflate stock prices, operated at least 12 online casinos, laundered illegal money and operated illegal Bitcoin exchanges.
And the action doesn't stop there. According to prosecutors, the hackers stole data from more than 100 million customers around the world, including one of the largest banking institutions in the United States, JPMorgan. Almost all of their successful schemes, including market manipulation, are aided by hacking and other cybercrimes.
The ringleader is alleged to be Gery Shalon, along with associates Joshua Aaron and Ziv Orenstein. Anthony Murgio is also accused of operating an unlicensed Bitcoin business called Coin.mx. Murgio was arrested in Florida, and Shalon and Orenstein were arrested in Israel in August.
The criminals' activity dates from 2012 to mid-2015. Manhattan-based U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara has scheduled a press conference Tuesday (Wednesday for us) to explain the charges.
