Crédit Mutuel Arkéa hit by cyberattack, loss estimated at €100 million

According to a statement from the bank, cybercriminals exploited Crédit Mutuel Arkéa’s own account to make transactions to other financial institutions, before converting the funds into cryptocurrencies via specialized platforms. The attack was carried out via the platform of a service provider, bypassing the bank’s usual systems.

Crédit Mutuel Arkéa specifies that the accounts of its customers, its subsidiaries and Fortuneo have not been directly affected. The bank ruled out human error as the cause of the attack, describing it as “sophisticated and external.” While the group did not confirm the amount of $133 million (€118 million) mentioned by Le Télégramme, it validated the order of magnitude of the loss.

Measures have been taken to block part of the diverted funds and efforts are underway to recover them. The bank assures that the attack is now “contained” and does not affect the financial solidity of the group, which achieved a net profit of €230 million in the first six months of the year.

Following the cyberattack, the group temporarily suspended some transactions as a precaution, before restoring almost all operations in the morning after checks and reinforcement of security measures. Crédit Mutuel Arkéa affirmed that the incident had no consequences on the assets of its customers, limited to a delay in the execution of certain transfers.

The attack has not been claimed, which prevents determining whether it is a simple theft or an attack carried out by activists. The group is calling on its customers to be vigilant against potential phishing attempts that may follow. Crédit Mutuel Arkéa has informed the competent authorities and supervisory bodies. This incident comes shortly after the hacking of Binance, which suffered losses estimated at $6.3 billion.