The Development Bank of Seychelles (DBS) has fallen victim to a ransomware attack , according to a statement released by the Central Bank of Seychelles ( CBS ).
DBS was founded in 1977 as a joint venture by the Seychelles government and several other shareholders, including the European Investment Bank, Standard Chartered Bank, Barclays Bank, Deutsche Investitions und Entwicklungsgesellschaft (DEG) and Caisse Francaise de Cooperation.
Since then, the government and the Development Bank of Seychelles have purchased the shares of Barclays Bank and DEG, giving the Seychelles government control of 60.50% of the bank's shares.
The bank fell victim to a ransomware attack
According to the press release published by CBS today, the Development Bank of Seychelles reported the ransomware attack on September 9, 2020.
“Since then, CBS has been working with DBS to determine the exact nature of the incident and is closely monitoring developments, including the potential impact on the operations of the Development Bank of Seychelles,” the press release states.
The Central Bank of Seychelles said DBS should contact customers and other stakeholders, particularly in the banking sector, to inform them of the incident and all relevant procedures.
“The collaboration with the Development Bank of Seychelles aims to identify vulnerabilities that could have led to the attack ransomware,” the central bank said.
More details will be revealed as the investigation uncovers more evidence about the ransomware attack that affected the systems of the Development Bank of Seychelles.
Possible theft of data belonging to customers and the bank
According to BleepingComputer, there is no evidence to suggest that the hackers stole data before encrypting the systems . However, data theft is a common trend in ransomware attacks, so it's very likely that it happened in this case as well.
This tactic was started by the perpetrators of the Maze ransomware in late November 2019. Hackers steal data to pressure victims into paying the ransom. If they don't, their information will be exposed online.
Since then, 18 other ransomware gangs have started using the same tactic , following Maze's example and creating their own sites .
This means that ransomware attacks have changed and that companies must report incidents as data breaches as well, warning employees and customers that data has potentially been stolen.
Chilean bank BancoEstado was recently forced to close its branches after a ransomware attack hit its systems.
