"The charged crimes showcase a brave new world of hacking for profit," said Manhattan US Attorney Preet Bharara in a statement on Tuesday. "It is no longer hacking merely for a quick payout, but hacking to support a diversified criminal conglomerate. This was hacking as a business model."
'Securities fraud on cyber steroids' https://t.co/PFcCy8jjRJ pic.twitter.com/6QY5pQk8jx— BI Finance (@clusterstock) November 10, 2015
The men, two Israelis and an American, hacked the networks of a dozen US financial institutions over an eight-year period and stole customer data from 100 million people, including 80 million from one financial institution alone, according to prosecutors. They manipulated stock prices, processed payments for other criminals and concealed over $100 million in a Swiss bank account and other accounts.
"These three defendants perpetrated one of the largest thefts of financial-related data in history - making off with the sensitive information of literally thousands of hard-working Americans," said US Attorney General Loretta Lynch in a statement.
Comment: It's curious that these three men were able to build such a large criminal enterprise before being caught. But one thing's for sure, their 'diversified criminal conglomerate' sounds a lot like most multi-national banks and corporations. Check out: