The FBI Is Investigating Whether US Banks Are Launching Cyberattacks Of Their Own
REUTERS / Samantha Sais
US banks may have embarked upon a hacking campaign of their own, allegedly disabling servers used by Iran in a series of 2012 cyberattacks that lasted through to 2013.
Bloomberg is reporting that the FBI is investigating whether US financial institutions have started fighting back against hackers.
US Representative Michael McCaul has described the current state of cyberattack as "kind of a Wild West right now," remarking that US companies have been launching cyberattacks without government permission.
It's reported that JP Morgan proposed to the FBI that the bank work from offshore locations to disable the servers used to launch denial of service attacks against its website. But attendees of the meeting dismissed the idea over concerns of its legality.
Despite ruling out the proposed hack, Bloomberg reports that US investigators found that a third party had carried out the attack after all. Now, the FBI is investigating whether US companies broke the law in ordering the hack against the Iranian servers.
Sony Pictures, the movie studio targeted by hackers, allegedly used Amazon Web Services to try and disrupt people downloading the files leaked as part of the hack.
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