8,100 Banks and Financial Institutions Brace for Fallout As Hackers Reveal Major Data Breach on Dark Web: Report

Thousands of banks and financial institutions around the world are bracing for new developments on a third-party data breach.

The financial services giant Finastra has confirmed it detected “suspicious activity” in an internal file transfer system.

The breach, which was first reported by cybersecurity journalist Brian Krebs, was discovered after someone on the dark web claimed to have 400 gigabytes of compressed information from the firm.

Finastra works with 8,100 financial institutions including 45 of the world’s 50 largest banks and according to Forbes, early findings suggest the breach may involve sensitive data from major banking clients, including financial records and transaction details.

Confidential information on Finastra’s operations and services may also be at risk.

Finastra has sent a letter to its clients alerting them to its ongoing investigation.

“The affected system remains isolated while the investigation continues. We believe that this incident was limited to the system in question and there is no further evidence at this time to suggest any lateral movement beyond it.

We are continuing to investigate root cause, but thus far, initial evidence points to credentials that were compromised. The source of the compromise is a priority aspect of the investigation…

At this time, as a priority we are also curating a list of the customers potentially affected and are currently reviewing all information. Should we determine that files associated with your organization were exfiltrated, we will notify you.”

Finastra provides software solutions to help banks and financial institutions manage their operations.

The firm’s banking platforms offer core functions like account management, transactions and reporting, with cloud options for scalability and modernization.

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