Cyber Attacks Against Banks Getting More Sophisticated, Security Provider Says

A company that helps companies guard against cyberattacks says the recent wave of digital disruptions at the nation's biggest banks is noteworthy for its size and sophistication.

Prolexic Technologies of Hollywood, Fla. says whoever is behind the attacks that have slowed websites at Bank of America (BAC), JPMorgan Chase (JPM), Wells Fargo (WFS), Citigroup (C), US Bank (USB) and PNC (PNC) recently has exhibited a knowledge of methods companies use to guard against denial of service attacks, in which hackers besiege a website with messages until it becomes overpowered and shuts down. Prolexic is a provider of distributed denial of service protection and mitigation services.

"What we are experiencing is a dramatic uptick in the size and sophistication of DDoS attacks to a level not previously observed," Scott Hammack, Prolexic's chief executive, said in a news release. "Only a handful of companies around the world could survive a hit of 70 Gbps in conjunction with the complex blend of attack vectors we have witnessed."

DDos refers to distributed denial of service. Gbps refers to gigabits, or one billion bits, per second.

Prolexic says the strikes launched against banks in the last two weeks have used a hacking tool known as itsoknoproblembro, which can attack multiple parts of a company's online operations simultaneously. As part of the assault, attackers direct a stream of messages at a website from both legitimate and sham Internet addresses that overwhelms the company's defenses, according to Prolexic.