Tesco Bank stops online transactions after cyber thefts from 20,000 accounts
London — Tesco Bank, owned by Britain’s biggest retailer Tesco, halted online transactions from all current accounts on Monday after money was stolen from 20,000 of them in the country’s first such cyber heist. The bank, which manages 136,000 current accounts, said it would repay people who lost money in the attack, which targeted 40,000 accounts and fuelled fears about the British financial sector’s vulnerability. Tesco Bank CE Benny Higgins told the BBC he thought "relatively small amounts" had been stolen, but the bank would not say how much money was stolen or how. Hackers have targeted other British banks in recent years, but the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) regulator said it was not aware of money being stolen previously from customers. Tesco Bank said "online criminal activity" resulted in money being "withdrawn fraudulently". Higgins said the cost of refunding people under its regulatory obligations would be "a big number but not a huge number". In an update late on Mon...
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