East West Bank

Profile narrative

East Western Bank, also doing business as East West Bank, is a financial institution headquartered in the United States of America. As a bank, it provides core banking services such as deposit taking, lending, and payment processing to both individual and commercial customers. The institution operates within the regulated U.S. banking sector, adhering to federal and state oversight that governs activities like accepting deposits, extending credit, and offering ancillary financial products. Its market presence is confined to the United States, where it serves clients across multiple states through a network of branches and digital channels. The bank’s role in the economy includes facilitating personal savings, supporting business financing, and contributing to the stability of the national payment system.

The bank appeared in two MOVEit‑related incidents reported in May and June 2023, both attributed to the Russia‑linked Clop ransomware gang. In the June 2023 event, attackers exploited a known vulnerability in the MOVEit Transfer tool and posted a list of compromised organizations on their dark‑web leak site without issuing an extortion demand. The May 2023 incident description notes that the same vulnerability was used to access personally identifiable information of employees and contractors across multiple victims, including federal agencies. Progress Software, the developer of MOVEit, later addressed a subsequent flaw that could have allowed unauthorized entry into customer environments, indicating the broader risk posed by the software. These 2023 episodes were part of a wider campaign that affected tens of thousands of individuals across various sectors, prompting coordinated mitigation work by U.S. government partners. Prior to the MOVEit episodes, in November 2021 the organization disclosed a data breach in which an intruder gained access to names and Social Security numbers of current and former employees as well as their dependents. The 2021 breach was detected internally, after which the bank secured its systems, engaged third‑party cybersecurity experts, and launched a forensic investigation. Investigators determined that the unauthorized presence persisted over several days, leading to a review of the affected files before notification of the impacted individuals. Following the review, the bank confirmed that it had restored normal operations and continued to monitor for any further signs of compromise. Collectively, these incidents illustrate the bank’s exposure to third‑party software vulnerabilities and the importance of timely patching and incident response capabilities in the financial sector.

Incidents

3 incidents linked to this organisation.