Russian security service says hackers attacked major banks in 2016 - Ifax

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia's major commercial banks came under cyber attacks in November last year, the country's Federal Security Service said on Friday, Interfax news agency reported.

Lenders such as Sberbank, Rosbank, Alfa Bank, Bank of Moscow, as well as the Moscow Exchange and other institutions were the targets of "a massive attack" from hackers between Nov. 8 and Nov. 14, deputy head of the Security Service Dmitry Shalkov said.

"Analysis shows that the number of information attacks at Russian official information resources is on the rise. There were 70 million (such attacks) in 2016," Shalkov said, adding it was a threefold increase from a year earlier.

The attacks were countered by banks' cybersecurity services in coordinations with the Security Service, he said.

(Reporting by Andrey Ostroukh; editing by Polina Devitt)