ICBC, China’s largest bank, hit with ransomware

Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), the largest bank in the country, was hit with a ransomware attack. The attack has also disrupted the US Treasury market.

The attack on China’s largest bank sent shockwaves throughout the global financial system, disrupting the US Treasury market.

According to reporting by the Financial Times (FT), US Treasury market clients were forced to reroute trades. The Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association told members that the disruption was caused due to a ransomware attack.

“We are aware of the cybersecurity issue and are in regular contact with key financial sector participants, in addition to federal regulators. We continue to monitor the situation,” a Treasury spokesperson said in a response to a question about the FT report.

Security research group vx-underground shared that details about the ongoing attack started circulating in the hacking community earlier. The note said that the attack was impacting “all of ICBC’s clearing customers.”

“It was speculated that it was ransomware, however it was not confirmed, and it was just rumors. If it was a technical issue, it is bad. But now that we know it is ransomware, it is much worse,” researchers said.

ICBC is China’s largest commercial lender, with assets exceeding $6 trillion. The bank employs nearly 435,000, and the company’s majority shareholder is the Chinese government.

According to the FT, ICBC was beginning to restore services as of Thursday afternoon, citing people briefed on the ransomware attack.

This is a developing story. We will update it once more details are avaliable.