Hunters International Hacks ICBC London: 5.2M Files Stolen

The cybercriminal group Hunters International has claimed responsibility for stealing more than 5.2 million files belonging to the London branch of the Chinese state-owned bank, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC). The criminals have set a deadline of September 13 for their demands to be met, threatening to release all stolen information if ignored. According to them, they managed to exfiltrate 6.6 TB of data from the bank after breaching its networks.

Hunters International, operating under the “ransomware as a service” (RaaS) model, was first identified in October of last year. Since then, the group has rapidly gained prominence in the cybercriminal world, claiming to have breached over 134 organizations this year alone. Their victims primarily consist of companies from various countries, with the notable exception of Russia.

At present, the authenticity of the stolen data has not been confirmed, and ICBC representatives have not issued any official statements. Should the data prove to be genuine, the consequences could be dire for the bank’s clients, whose financial information would be at serious risk.

Banking institutions have always been of particular interest to cyber extortionists and criminals engaged in financial fraud. Handling vast amounts of confidential data, banks are often forced to comply with ransom demands to prevent data leaks that could provoke customer dissatisfaction and tarnish the organization’s reputation. In the case of ICBC, one of the world’s largest banks by assets ($6.3 trillion as of mid-2024), such an incident could have a significant impact on its financial performance and customer trust.