Recently-reported cyber attacks against JP Morgan could have been aided and abetted by the Russian state, with whom the West has clashed over Russia’s annexation of Crimea and its alleged invasion of Ukraine.

Recently-reported cyber attacks against JP Morgan could have been aided and abetted by the Russian state, with whom the West has clashed over Russia’s annexation of Crimea and its alleged invasion of Ukraine, according to a Bloomberg report.

The US-headquartered bank’s own investigators have found clues that a global network of computers available for hire by sophisticated criminals was used to reroute data stolen from the bank to a major Russian city, the news service said, citing unnamed sources.

As confirmed by Family Wealth Report earlier this week (sister publication to WealthBriefing and WealthBriefingAsia), the Federal Bureau of Investigation is working with the Secret Service to determine the scope of cyber attacks against several US financial institutions including JP Morgan. JP Morgan told FWR that it hasn't seen “any unusual fraud activity” and highlighted that the bank will have spent some $250 million on cyber security by end-2014, with 1,000 people focused on the effort.

The Bloomberg report said bank investigators identified what they believe was the staging ground for the assault, a “bulletproof” hosting platform because of its resilience to other attackers and to law enforcement.

In what is a particularly telling point, the report said “cybercrime operations similar to the one identified by JP Morgan investigators, notably a now-defunct one known as the Russian Business Network, have been run by powerful figures and protected by Russian authorities”. It cited James Lewis, a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington.

The report said the bank is considering the possibility that the cybergang may have been supported or condoned by the Russian state, as a way of hitting back at US sanctions against Russia.