Daily Management Review

Hackers, stole the Central Bank of Bangladesh's money, exploited SWIFT


04/25/2016


Hackers that stole $ 81 million from the Central Bank of Bangladesh are likely to have cracked the SWIFT system’s software, which is a basis of the global financial system’s work, said representatives of the British company BAE Systems, developers in the field of armaments and information security.



Colin / Wikimedia Commons
Colin / Wikimedia Commons
SWIFT - Cooperative Society, which is owned by 3 thousand financial institutions - confirmed that the hacker has found a program that is used to manage client software. According to SWIFT’s representative Natasha De Teran, the system will release a software update to combat malware on Monday. Above that, the company is going to issue a special warning to financial institutions to check their security system.

The message about software update and warning came from SWIFT (Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication) based in Brussels, after researchers from BAE reported that, in their opinion, have discovered a malicious program. This program was used by hackers who attacked the Central Bank of Bangladesh to manage SWIFT’s client software Alliance Access.

In February 2016, the attackers tried to transfer the sum of $ 951 million from the account in the Federal Reserve Bank of New York belonged to the Central Bank of Bangladesh. The bulk of payments was blocked, but the criminals managed to transfer $ 81 million to the accounts on the Philippines and local casinos. Most of these funds have not been found, neither was established the hackers’ identity.

Officers investigating the theft previously reported that hackers broke into the computers of the Central Bank of Bangladesh and gained control of the credentials used to log on to the SWIFT system. BAE’s research has shown that SWIFT’s software in the bank computers is likely to have been hacked to delete records of illegal transfers.

Representative of SWIFT Natasha De Teran on Sunday confirmed that "a malicious program had no effect on SWIFT’s network or basic messaging service." SWIFT’s messages exchange platform is used by 11 thousand banks and other organizations around the world, but only some of them use Alliance Access software, noted De Teran.

Representative of the Central Bank of Bangladesh did not comment BAE’s message.

source: reuters.com