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US bank Wells Fargo hit by cyber attack despite industry warnings

Bank website suffers issues amid heightened security concerns

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Customers of US bank Wells Fargo have reported trouble accessing the bank's website, leading to concerns it is the latest victim in an ongoing hacking campaign targeting financial institutions.

Reuters reported that an unnamed source had confirmed the Wells Fargo website had been hit by a cyber attack on Tuesday.

Wells Fargo confirmed to V3 that it was aware of the access issues but declined to comment if they were the result of a cyber attack.

"We apologise to customers who may be experiencing intermittent access issues to wellsfargo.com and online banking. We are working to quickly resolve this issue. Customers can still access their accounts through our ATMs, stores and by phone," a Wells Fargo spokesman told V3.

If true, Wells Fargo would be the latest in a long line of financial institutions to be targeted by hackers this month.

Earlier, the Bank of America and the New York Stock Exchange's websites suffered similar attacks.

The attacks are believed to stem from the same hacker group. Earlier in September an unidentified person posted a statement on Pastebin threatening to target financial institutions.

The statement promised the attacks will continue until a controversial film, which prompted mass anti-American protests in the Middle East, is removed from the internet.

Following that threat, the Financial Services Information Sharing and Analysis Center (FS-ISAC) upgraded its Cyber Threat Advisory status from Elevated to High.

However, it appears this was not enough to stop Wells Fargo being hit by attackers.

The news follows warnings from security experts speaking at V3's 2012 Security Summit that firms are not doing enough to protect themselves from cyber threats.

Trend Micro's Rik Ferguson highlighted Advanced Persistent Threats as a key issue firms need to address. Ferguson claimed sensationalist media coverage regarding state-sponsored attacks has left businesses blasé about the dangers facing them.

Prior to the attacks the reports surfaced that the US White House is currently working on a set of best practice cyber security guidelines for businesses involved in critical infrastructure areas such as water, power, healthcare and banking.

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