The world's largest bank, China's ICBC, has been hacked

A cyberattack was reportedly launched against the Chinese bank ICBC's U.S. financial services division, causing trading of Treasurys to be disrupted.

The largest lender in the world based on assets, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, reported on Thursday that a ransomware attack “that resulted in disruption to certain” systems had affected its financial services division, ICBC Financial Services.

ICBC "isolated impacted systems to contain the incident" as soon as the state-owned bank learned of the hack.

One category of cyberattack is ransomware. It entails hackers seizing control of data or systems and holding them hostage until the victim pays a ransom. In recent years, malevolent actors have become increasingly adept at using this particular type of attack.

ICBC stated that it has been "conducting a thorough investigation and is progressing its recovery efforts with the support of its professional team of information security experts," but it did not identify the attacker.

According to ICBC, its U.S. financial services division's email and business systems run separately from those of its China operations. The cyberattack did not impact the systems of ICBC's head office, its branch in New York, or any other affiliated domestic or international organizations, the company said.

ICBC has not identified the potential perpetrators of the attack, and no one has yet taken ownership of it.