Cobalt Renaissance

On March 26, 2018, Europol reported the arrest of the Cobalt gang leader in Alicante, Spain. The Bank of Russia named Cobalt as the main threat to banks. The scale of its activities is fascinating: according to Europol, the group has been linked to thefts of approximately one billion euros from 100 banks in 40 countries: Russia, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Spain, Romania, Belarus, Poland, Estonia, Bulgaria, Georgia, Moldova, Kyrgyzstan, Armenia, Taiwan and Malaysia. But, in spite of the arrest of Cobalt’s group leader, and (a little earlier) that of the head of the money mules group and several of his aides, remaining hackers continue to attack banks. Therefore, it is far too soon to dismiss Cobalt.

On May 23, 1:21 p.m…