Social engineers steal $2.2 million from Barclays bank using KVM device

Eight men have been arrested for stealing $2.2 million (£1.3 million) in a bank cyber heist pulled off using a keyboard video mouse device.

The men were taken into custody Friday for their alleged connection in a conspiracy to steal the cash from a London Barclays bank branch which was previously hit by hackers earlier this year.

The arrests were linked to a separate failed raid in which hackers wre folied in their bid to steal millions from Santander bank also in London.

In both instances, the gang used the keyboard video mouse (KVM) device to give themselves remote access to customer accounts.

Installing such a device required physical access so one of the gang posed as an IT engineer to access to bank computers where he allegedly connected a KVM device to computers.

At Barclays, the criminals were successful and remotely transferred money to accounts they'd designated ahead of time, police said.

The KVM device gave  saboteurs access to multiple bank computers enabling them to monitor accounts and move money.

American Bankers Association vice president Doug Johnson said the attacks were more common in the retail sector.

“It's just easier to get to, and [there's] not a dedicated PC behind levels of security,” Johnson said of hardware in retail establishments as opposed to that in banks.

The arrested men remained in custody.

This article originally appeared at scmagazineus.com