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NY Fed rejected, then later approved $81 million bank heist
The financial industry has used a messaging system made by the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT) to securely authenticate transfers between banks for decades. But recent fraudulent money requests have broken the system's impenetrable reputation. Back in February, hackers used this method to steal $81 million from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, but officials just revealed that those requests had been red flagged and rejected previously in the day -- only to be approved hours later.
Report: Bank network flaw helped hackers steal $80 million
Thieves who stole $81 million from the Bangladesh Bank may have been aided by a security flaw in the SWIFT international banking network, according to Reuters. Security researchers from BAE found malware designed to help thieves delete transfer information to hide their tracks. "I can't think of a case where we have seen a criminal go to the level of effort to customize it for the environment they were operating in," says BAE's Adrian Nish. SWIFT, a coop with 3,000 member banks, confirmed that it knew about malware targeting its client software, though Bangladesh police say they haven't found it on the bank's servers yet.
Bank's dodgy cost-cutting led to $80 million hack
Earlier this month, hackers attempting to steal $850 million from Bangladesh Bank managed to only get away with $80 million. After an investigation into the breach, authorities determined that the culprits gained access thanks to $10 second-hand switches used to network the bank's computers and the lack of a proper firewall. Transfers of the stolen funds were halted as the result of a spelling error, otherwise the heist could've been much worse.
