The European Investment Bank has been attacked by pro-Russian hackers in an attempt to disrupt the stability of the Western financial system. The attack was reportedly carried out by pro-Russian hacker groups Killnet, Anonymous Sudan, and REvil, also known under the name the ‘Darknet Parliament’.

This represents the first significant blow against Western financial institutions since the hackers joined forces to carry out a coordinated assault focused on severing the flow of Western assistance to Ukraine. After the attack occurred, the bank experienced a complete outage, while the European Investment Fund (EIF), a subsidiary of the European Investment Bank that offers financial support to SMEs, had its appearance significantly modified. The primary focus of the attack seems to be the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT) system.

Given that this system facilitates most international monetary and security transfers, it plays a crucial role in the functioning of the Western financial system. The consequences of its failure could be highly disruptive to the entire system. It appears that this attack is just a first step of a larger attempt.

On its Telegram channel, Killnet took credit for the hack. The Darknet Parliament’s following targets reportedly include other European and US banks, as well as the US Federal Reserve System. Previous attacks carried out by the hacking trifecta In 2022, REvil was linked to the Medibank cyber-attack that saw the personal data of millions of Australians compromised and, for some, leaked online.

Killnet is another Russia-aligned hacking group that appeared on the scene and garnered attention amid Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Since then, Killnet reportedly took responsibility for a range of distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks that were carried out on websites within countries that have openly backed Ukraine. In late 2022, the group was responsible for an attack that resulted in the disruption of several US airport websites.

The websites for airports like those from Chicago, New York and Los Angeles were taken offline during the cyberattack. Anonymous Sudan is a group of hackers that, similarly to Killnet, has been connected to denial-of-service attacks aimed at several Swedish and Danish organisations as well as to critical infrastructure. In June 2023, Anonymous Sudan was reportedly linked to a denial-of-service attack that caused tens of thousands of Microsoft users to experience difficulties accessing essential tools used by remote workers like Outlook email and One-Drive file-sharing apps.

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