French banking group Crédit Mutuel Arkéa resumed nearly all operations on Wednesday following a cyberattack that disrupted services and led to suspected fund theft. The bank stated that customer funds remained unaffected and that the incident primarily delayed certain transfers while it continues to assess the financial impact.
Attack vector and operational status
Arkéa disclosed that attackers gained access to its systems through a service provider rather than via its online banking subsidiary, Fortuneo. The intruders transferred the bank’s money to other financial institutions, a move that potentially allowed them to convert the stolen assets into cryptocurrency. While the bank has restored most functions, it acknowledged that the disruption caused delays in specific transaction processing.
Assessment of financial losses
The lender confirmed the attack but declined to validate specific loss figures reported by external observers. “We are not confirming these figures; we can only confirm the approximate scale,” Arkéa said, according to a machine translation of its statement. The bank noted that some funds had been frozen and that recovery efforts were currently underway.
Onchain tracking and exchange response
Prior to the public identification of the victim, blockchain analytics firm Bitquery traced withdrawals from accounts at Kraken, Crypto.com and OKX. Onchain investigator ZachXBT flagged more than $106 million in suspicious withdrawals on Monday and raised his estimate above $133 million on Tuesday after identifying an additional $27 million in related transactions. In response to the suspected theft, Kraken and Crypto.com previously stated they had restricted accounts or blocked funds linked to the incident.
