The Wall Street Journal (subscription required) reports that the FBI is looking into a potential computer-security breach that resulted in the theft of tens of millions of dollars from Citibank by computer hackers.

These hackers appear to be linked to a Russian cyber gang who targeted Citigroup's (C) Citibank subsidiary, including its North American retail bank and other businesses. This attack was detected over the summer, but there is a chance that it could have happened as much as a year earlier.

What's up with those folks over at Wachovia (NYSE: WB)? It seems like they may have lost hold of the wheel. They've accidentally given up customers account balances to crooks. They have offered refuge to questionable funds. Now, it seems they've been sucked, with seven other banks, into a Federal investigation regarding the rigging of bids for government investment purchases. What has happened to the conservative Wachovia I used to know?

On May 20, Charles Duhigg had in The New York Times an excellent exposé regarding another nasty round of cyber crime. Wachovia was in no way at fault for the release of information leading to the account attacks, but its institution was one of many that apparently surrendered funds to criminals. I had always considered Wachovia to be an iron-clad safe institution. Someone must have missed a turn.