Dive Brief:
- SWIFT Chief Executive Gottfried Leibbrandt told the Sibos conference in Geneva on Monday that three more client banks were hacked over the summer, according to a Reuters report.
- Hackers accessed two banks' systems and a third bank repelled an attack before fraudulent SWIFT messages could be sent, Leibbrandt said. No money was lost in any of the attacks.
- SWIFT did not reveal which banks were involved, but SWIFT Chairman Yawar Shah told the conference that cyberattacks on banks are growing, and all banks needed to tighten their security practices.
Dive Insight:
SWIFT has been criticized for not taking security seriously enough after criminals used SWIFT messages to help steal a record-breaking $81 million from the Bangladesh central bank in February. Following the attack, additional banks in Southeast Asia and other parts of the world began checking for possible security breaches related to the SWIFT global financial messaging network.
Cyberattackers are targeting the SWIFT messaging network, in particular, because they can derail or create fraudulent transfers, thereby accessing funds. Because the banks have struggled to bolster defenses, they are still a prone target.
SWIFT recently announced it is introducing a set of mandatory security measures in response to the attacks, which customers were expected to take to safeguard their systems against cyber heists. The organization has struggled to get its member banks to comply with new security protocols implemented following the heist because it is a nonprofit cooperative without regulatory authority over its members.
Earlier this month, SWIFT introduced a new tool called Daily Validation Reports designed to help customers detect fraudulent payments and help banks identify unusual payment activity.
