[ by Melanie Gretchen ]

Guess Who's Coming to Your Bank?

Uninvited guests showed up in the form of a wave of computer attacks last week, suspending online banking for customers of 6 major banks, who could not access their accounts or pay bills online.  However, what troubled customers more than denial of service attacks, in which hackers barrage a Web site with traffic until it is overwhelmed and shuts down, is the fact that none of the banks had provided an explanation for what was going on.

Banks affected:

• Bank of America
• JPMorgan Chase
• Citigroup
• U.S. Bank
• Wells Fargo
• PNC

Is this the beginning of an end? A hacker group calling itself Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Cyber Fighters claiming ties to the Middle East took credit for the attacks in online posts, in retaliation for an anti-Islam video that mocks the Prophet Muhammad.  Closer to home, customers faced no solution – and few alternatives.

"A major bank has a problem and gives no indication of what’s happening, when it started or when it will stop.  That’s pretty freaky if it’s your own business’s money and you need to do things with it." -- Paul Downs, a small-business owner in Bridgeport, Pa.

C-I Note: Will the banking industry face another Bank Transfer Day, when Bank of America threatened to introduce debit card fees of $5 a month last fall?  How many more affected banks will it take to produce a solution?  Who's next?

For further details, go to [NY Times, 10/1/12].