Police in Brazil arrest suspect over $100M banking hack

SAO PAULO (AP) – Police in Brazil have arrested a suspect in connection with a cyberattack that diverted more than 540 million Brazilian reais (about $100 million) from the country’s banking systems, authorities said Friday.

The breach affected Brazil’s widely used instant payment system – known as PIX – which is used by 76.4% of the population.

Hackers targeted C&M, a software company that connects financial institutions to the Central Bank to enable PIX transactions.

Police in Sao Paulo said the man, whose identity was not released, worked in information technology at the company and allegedly helped others gain unauthorized access to PIX systems. Officials said they blocked 270 million Brazilian reais from an account used in the scheme.

Brazil’s Central Bank said Thursday that it suspended part of C&M’s operations after the company took measures to reduce the risk of further attacks.

C&M said in a statement published by local media that it is cooperating with authorities and that preliminary evidence indicates the breach stemmed from unauthorized access to security credentials through social engineering, not from flaws in its systems.