It’s hard to remember a time when hacking and banking featured so heavily together in news sites across the Internet. Without doubt, it’s a sign of the times we’re all now living in so we need to be aware, and to be on our guard whenever we go online.

Go on, try it for yourself. Google the word ‘hacking’ alongside the phrase ‘online banking UAE’, for example, and then substitute US, UK, China, France, Austria, Australia, Japan, India – you get the idea – for UAE, which is of course shorthand for the United Arab Emirates. Notice the long litany of hacking stories in country after country leaping out at you? Admittedly, it’s a simple exercise, but one which throws light on just how global the whole problem has now become.

If the scale of the problem is easily highlighted via Google, Yahoo, Bing or any other search engine, then the growing sophistication of cybercriminals is certainly not. Much of what they do takes a certain degree of technical and financial know-how in order to understand what’s truly going on. Sadly, the vast majority of us are usually well behind the curve in that respect, understandably so.

The two recent cyberattacks, which inflicted $45 million in losses on the global financial system in a matter of hours, is a case in point. Eight defendants were indicted earlier this month by prosecutors in Brooklyn on charges relating to involvement in the ATM banking heist, which stretched across dozens of countries and involved tens of thousands of ATM transactions.

According to prosecutors at the time, the defendants allegedly formed the New York-based cell of an international cybercrime organization that used sophisticated intrusion techniques to hack into the systems of global financial institutions, steal prepaid debit card data, and eliminate withdrawal limits.

The stolen card data was then disseminated worldwide and used in making fraudulent ATM withdrawals on a massive scale across the globe. The eight indicted defendants and their co-conspirators targeted New York City and withdrew approximately $2.8 million in a matter of hours.

Loretta E. Lynch, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, said the defendants and their co-conspirators participated in a massive 21st century bank heist that reached across the Internet and stretched around the globe.

She added, “In the place of guns and masks, this cybercrime organization used laptops and the Internet. Moving as swiftly as data over the Internet, the organization worked its way from the computer systems of international corporations to the streets of New York City, with the defendants fanning out across Manhattan to steal millions of dollars from hundreds of ATMs in a matter of hours. Law enforcement is committed to moving just as swiftly to solve these cybercrimes and bring their perpetrators to justice.”

Secret Service Special Agent in Charge Steven Hughes said, “New technologies and the rapid growth of the Internet have eliminated the traditional borders of financial crimes and provided new opportunities for the criminal element to threaten the world’s financial systems.

“However, as demonstrated by the charges and arrests announced today, the Secret Service and its law enforcement partners have adapted to these technological advancements and utilized cutting edge investigative techniques to thwart this cybercriminal activity.”

On this occasion, at least, the cybercriminals targeted the banking funds backing up the prepaid credit cards and not personal or business accounts. A bit of good news then for individual customers. Cold comfort for the banking system.

Check out what the New York prosecutors had to say, here.