https://www.techtarget.com/searchsecurity/news/252435659/Hackers-used-SWIFT-based-attacks-to-steal-millions-from-banks
The Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication's bank messaging system has become a target of cybercriminals, as two more SWIFT-based attacks, which stole millions of dollars from banks in Russia and India, have come to light.
SWIFT, a nonprofit international cooperative, operates a messaging system for banks to communicate financial transactions. In an attack last year, Russia's central bank had 339.5 million rubles -- approximately $6 million -- stolen by unknown hackers, according to a report from Reuters published last week. In a general report on cyberattacks, the Russian central bank said the hackers used the SWIFT messaging system to steal the money.
According to Reuters, the hackers took control of a computer at a Russian bank and used SWIFT to transfer money into their own accounts. The name of the specific bank that was targeted has not been disclosed.
In a separate attack, hackers attempted three SWIFT-based attacks on the City Union Bank in India earlier this month. City Union Bank issued a statement this week that said it found three fraudulent transactions that used the SWIFT system during its reconciliation process on Feb. 7, 2018.
The first transfer of $500,000 was through a Standard Chartered Bank account in New York to a bank in Dubai. This transfer was blocked and the money was recovered. The second transfer of approximately $372,000 was made through a Standard Chartered Bank account in Frankfurt, Germany, to a bank in Turkey. This transaction was also blocked, and City Union Bank said it is taking steps to recover this amount as well.
However, the third transfer was successful. Hackers made a transfer of $1 million through Bank of America in New York to a bank based in China. The City Union Bank report said these funds were claimed by someone using forged documents.
These SWIFT-based attacks were "initiated by international cyber criminals," according to City Union Bank, and "there is no evidence of internal staff involvement."
SWIFT-based attacks are not a new threat. In February 2016, hackers were able to steal $81 million from the account of the central bank of Bangladesh at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. During the investigation into this theft, several others were uncovered.
SWIFT was criticized for its slow response to the attacks, initially saying that SWIFT users are responsible for maintaining their own security and preventing hackers from misusing the messaging system. The organization then proposed a general plan for improving cybersecurity and later partnered with BAE Systems and Fox-IT to create a cyberintelligence team to investigate security incidents. SWIFT has also said that its messaging system has never been directly compromised by threat actors.
23 Feb 2018