Dive Brief:
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Additional banks in Southeast Asia and other parts of the world are checking into possible security breaches related to the SWIFT global financial messaging network, according to CIO.
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Bloomberg reported late last week that security company FireEye had been asked to investigate potential breaches at “up to 12 additional banks” in Asia, the Philippines and New Zealand.
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In February, criminals used SWIFT messages to help steal a record-breaking $81 million from the Bangladesh central bank.
Dive Insight:
Some banks in Asia appear to be struggling to employ adequate security controls, and clever cybercriminals have been targeting them with rouge SWIFT requests. In April, an investigator said Bangladesh’s central bank had no firewall and used cheap, second-hand switches to network computers connected to the SWIFT global payment network, according to a Reuters report. FireEye has been involved in the Bangladesh bank investigation as well.
Earlier this month, SWIFT announced that it had been hit by a second malware attack, and also revealed that Wells Fargo, Ecuador's Banco del Austro (BDA) and Citibank failed to tell SWIFT about a 2015 attack that resulted in the theft of $12 million from BDA.
SWIFT has maintained that its own network, services and software have not been compromised. Last month, the global financial messaging network launched an initiative to share cyberthreat information with customers and help them protect their own environments from intrusions and malware.
