December 23, 2009

Before banking was an industry fighting for its life, it was an industry that had trouble protecting the financial lives of the customers it served.If a suspected breach of Citigroup Inc.'s /quotes/comstock/13*!c/quotes/nls/c (C 3.34, -0.08, -2.34%) electronic network by Russian thieves proves to be true, it's not evidence of a new problem. It only warns us that an old problem never went away.Money laundering, hacking and identity theft loom as big threats to banks.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation reportedly is investigating a security breach, or hack that may have cost Citi tens of millions. Citi denies that there was a breach, but even if it proves to have thwarted an electronic theft effort, it doesn't mean that the bad guys aren't trying. Read WSJ story on Citi breach.For all of the ease, efficiency and convenience electronic processing has given us in banking, it has created the same ease and convenience for criminals.