Computer hackers have stolen up to $1 billion from approximately 100 banks in 30 different countries, Russian security company Kaspersky Lab reports, according to the New York Daily News.
The hacking ring, regarded by security experts as one of the largest banking breaches in history, has been active since 2013.
"In this case they are not interested in information. They're only interested in the money," Kaspersky Lab principal security researcher Vicente Diaz told The Associated Press, according to the newspaper.
"They're flexible and quite aggressive and use any tool they find useful for doing whatever they want to do."
The hackers have been able to access banking networks through what is known as phishing, a process largely initiated online where individuals collect sensitive personal information by pretending to be a contact of trustworthy entity.
Following the collection of this data, hackers are able to set up fake accounts and transfer money into them, eventually cashing out at ATM locations around the world.
The Kaspersky Lab mentions that most of these hacking rings have targeted institutions in the United States, Russia, Germany, China and Ukraine.
"We cannot comment on individual actions our members have taken, but on balance we believe our members are taking appropriate actions to prevent and detect these kinds of attacks and minimize any effects on their customers," the Financial Services Information Sharing and Analysis Center wrote in a statement, the New York Daily News also reports, mentioning that the group received a briefing about the report last month.
"The report that Russian banks were the primary victims of these attacks may be a significant change in targeting strategy by Russian-speaking cybercriminals."
The report is said to be officially presented on Monday at a security conference in Mexico.
