How UP Cyber Police Cracked Rs 145 Crore Digital Bank Robbery At Cooperative Bank

LUCKNOW : In first of its kind breakthrough Cyber Police of Uttar Pradesh cracked a Rs 145 crore highly technical hacking attempt at Uttar Pradesh Cooperative Bank (UPCB).

On Saturday, unknown hackers broke into the account of Uttar Pradesh Cooperative Bank Limited (UPCB). Hackers broke into the UP Cooperative Bank’s internet security system and stole Rs 145 crore from the bank’s account. However, the bank was able to get the money back. Soon after the incident, an FIR was registered and cyber crime police started the probe.

ALSO READ: Here’s How Hackers’ Attempt To Siphon Off Rs 145 Crore From UP’s Cooperative Bank Account Was Blocked

With the help of technical assistance from CERT-in and eSec Forte UP police not only managed to arrest the criminals but recover technical tools used by hackers to cheat the bank.

After a detailed technical investigation, police arrested a retired bank manager, three ‘tech-savvy’ youngsters who manipulated and bypassed bank’s security features to steal Rs 146 crore. The police’s cybercrime team corroborated the evidence gathered by them with the CCTV footage gained by them.

HOW THE CASE WAS CRACKED

Cyber criminals using the login id and password of bank officials managed to transfer huge money from the main branch of Cooperative Bank. The transfer of a huge amount was spotted by the Reserve Bank Of India (RBI) and also by the officials of Cooperative Bank.

The bank officials managed to block the money by freezing the bank account before the cyber criminals could withdraw it away from the banking system.

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SP, Cyber Crime, Prof Triveni Singh spearheaded the investigation. He sought help from Indian cyber security watchdog Certain and a private company eSec Forte. Technical experts assisted UP police in cracking the case.

“We found an unidentified laptop from the office, which didn’t belong to the bank. Our investigation revealed that the laptop was connected with the network. Also, the laptop was being misused by the hackers using remote access control. This helped the cyber criminals to connect to the network of the bank. To make the payment, cyber criminals installed a keylogger which copies the login id and password and continuously updated the hacker. Using bank manager’s credentials, the payments were made. We have recovered all the technical devices used by criminals in the crime.”

Prof Singh added that as the investigation was highly technical, he called Sanjay Bahl, Director General, Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) for assistance. He sent his brightest geeks to crack the case. Digital evidences were gathered and verified to establish sequence of event.

The series of incident matches the CCTV footage obtained from the bank. The CCTV footage shows unauthorised entry into the bank. One of the men in the footage was identified as former bank employee. They were arrested and sent behind the bars.

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