JPMorgan and Other Banks Struck by Coordinated Cyberattack

A number of United States banks, including JPMorgan Chase and at least four other firms, were hit by hackers in a series of coordinated attacks this month, according to four people familiar with the investigation, which is incomplete.

The hackers infiltrated the networks of the banks, siphoning off gigabytes of data, including account information, in what security experts described as a sophisticated cyberattack.

The motivation and origin of the attacks are not yet clear, according to investigators. The F.B.I. is involved in the investigation, and in the past few weeks a number of security firms have been brought in to conduct forensics of the penetrated computer networks.

According to two other people briefed on the investigation, hackers infiltrated the computer networks of some banks and stole account information for clients. It was not clear whether the hackers were financially motivated, or were collecting intelligence as part of an espionage campaign.

JPMorgan has not seen any increased fraud levels, one person familiar with the situation said.

'Companies of our size unfortunately experience cyberattacks nearly every day,' Patricia Wexler, a JPMorgan spokeswoman, said. 'We have multiple layers of defense to counteract any threats and constantly monitor fraud levels.'

J. Peter Donald, an F.B.I. spokesman in New York, declined to comment citing the current investigation.

The intrusions were first reported by Bloomberg, which indicated that they were the work of Russian hackers and potentially the Russian government in retaliation for Western economic sanctions.

But security experts and government officials said they had not yet made that conclusion.

Adam Meyers, the head of threat intelligence at CrowdStrike, a security firm that works with JPMorgan and other banks, said that it would be 'premature' to suggest the attacks were motivated by sanctions. Mr. Meyers said he could not speak specifically about JPMorgan or any of his company's clients.

Earlier this year, iSight Partners, a Dallas-based security firm that provides intelligence on online threats, warned companies that they should be prepared for cyberattacks by Russia in retaliation for Western economic sanctions.

Russian hackers began a monthlong online assault on Estonia in 2007 that nearly crippled the Baltic nation, after Estonian government workers moved a Soviet-era war memorial from the Estonian capital.

But security experts say that the stealthy nature of the recent attacks suggests that the motivation was not political.

Compared to a spate of aggressive attacks from Iran over the past few years, called distributed denial of service attacks, the attacks against the American banks were not intended to disrupt the bank's services but appeared to be part of a financial or intelligence-motivated attack, three people briefed on the investigations said.

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