Crédit Mutuel Arkéa said nearly all of its operations had resumed on Wednesday after a cyberattack that involved a suspected theft from the bank’s own account. The group said the disruption delayed some transfers, but customer funds were not affected.
The bank said services returned after security checks and the introduction of additional safeguards. Attackers accessed its systems through a service provider’s platform, rather than through Fortuneo, Arkéa’s online banking subsidiary, and transferred money to other financial institutions. The funds may have been converted into cryptocurrency.
The suspected theft came to light after withdrawals from cryptocurrency exchanges. Blockchain analytics firm Bitquery traced withdrawals involving accounts at Kraken, Crypto.com and OKX. On Monday, blockchain investigator ZachXBT flagged more than $106 million in suspicious withdrawals, then raised the estimate to over $133 million on Tuesday after identifying another $27 million. A report on Wednesday named Arkéa as a potential victim, after which the bank confirmed the attack.
Arkéa said it was still assessing the financial impact and would not confirm the reported totals, but could confirm the approximate scale of the incident. The bank added that some funds had been frozen and recovery efforts were continuing. Kraken and Crypto.com said they had restricted accounts or blocked funds linked to the suspected theft, while maintaining that their platforms remained secure.
Sources: Cointelegraph.