What did the attackers break into?
The attackers broke into the customer database of Qatar National Bank,
and proceeded t steal around 1.4 GB worth of customer details and leaking them.
“Leaked documents include the bank details,
telephone numbers and dates of birth of several journalists for Doha-based state-funded broadcaster Al-Jazeera,
supposed members of the ruling Al-Thani family, and government and defence officials,
a local news website reported on 27 April.” (Aguinaldo, 2016, para. 2)
How did the attackers break into it?
The information on how the breach happened was not released to the public,
as QNB chose to not comment on any alleged rumors going around on social media (Aguinaldo, 2016).
Who was impacted?
The leaked folder’s contents were found to be
“UK intelligence Service MI6,
The Qatari Defence Ministry, and Qatar State Security Bureau (Mukhabara).”
(Aguinaldo, 2016, para. 5). Despite all that,
QNB claims that the bank itself and their customers were not impacted financially (Aguinaldo, 2016).
How was it investigated?
Following their statement on not addressing the breach,
QNB said that they would investigate the matter and assured people that they were not affected by this issue (Finn, 2016),
though how they investigated the matter was not mentioned.
References:
Aguinaldo J. (2016). Hackers Target Qatar National Bank.
MEED Middle East business intelligence.
https://www.meed.com/hackers-target-qatar-national-bank/
Finn T. (2016). Qatar National Bank investigating alleged data hack.
Reuters News.
https://www.reuters.com/article/technology/qatar-national-bank-investigating-alleged-data-hack-idUSKCN0XO22S/