Hackers Stole Millions of Dollars from Citigroup, WSJ Reports

Dec. 22, 2009— -- In a bizarre case of cyber crime, the Wall Street Journal reported today that Russian hackers may have stolen tens of millions of dollars from Citigroup, a charge the bank denies.

Citing anonymous government officials, the newspaper reported that the hackers were connected to a Russian cyber gang and that two other computer systems, at least one connected to a U.S. government agency, were also attacked. The FBI is investigating the case, according to the Wall Street Journal, but the company has flatly denied the story.

"We had no breach of the system and there were no losses, no customer losses, no bank losses," the banking giant said in a statement. "Any allegation that the FBI is working a case at Citigroup involving tens of millions of losses is just not true."

Government sources could not confirm whether reports about Citigroup are true, but cyber crime is a growing national security concern, and cases like this are becoming routine.

In November, the Department of Justice captured an international hacking group that was planning a $9 million fraud scheme against an Atlanta-based credit card processing company, which is part of the Royal Bank of Scotland. Also last month, the FBI broke up a large computer phishing scheme linked to Egypt, a case the agency called the biggest crime bust in U.S. history.

The report comes amid news that President Obama chose former Bush administration official and former eBay and Microsoft executive Howard A. Schmidt as the government's cyber security coordinator.