In one of the earliest high-profile digital bank heists, Russian hacker Vladimir Levin managed to infiltrate Citibank’s systems remotely from Saint Petersburg. By exploiting weak authentication protocols and leveraging stolen credentials, he transferred over $10 million into accounts across multiple countries. Levin never physically entered the bank. Everything was done over the internet, which was still in its infancy. Although most of the money was eventually recovered and Levin was arrested in 1995, the incident was a wake-up call for the financial sector. It revealed just how vulnerable banks were to cyber attacks, even from halfway around the world, and helped spark the early push for stronger digital security.

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