Bank hacks in Vietnam and Bangladesh have sparked concerns within global banks, some of which are privately pressing the Swift interbank network to shore up security at its 11,000 members.
The pressure on Swift comes as new details emerge from the most recently disclosed bank hack. An examination of the malware used in an attack late last year on Vietnam’s Tien Phong Commercial Joint Stock Bank shows that unique Swift codes identifying at least seven additional financial institutions were embedded in the hackers’ work, according to a private report by BAE Systems Plc.
The list includes major banks in Asia and at least one in Europe, including what two people familiar with the list said were banks where the Vietnamese lender had correspondent accounts. The malware wasn’t used to attack those banks, said one person familiar with the situation. Rather, it deleted money-transfer confirmations sent between the Vietnamese bank and its partners that could have alerted bank officials of improper transactions, the person said.
Such revelations -- coming on top of Swift’s warning last week of a “wider and highly adaptive campaign targeting banks” -- show that intruders’ efforts went beyond looking solely at small banks in developing nations. They have raised alarms inside global lenders, said people familiar with several banks in the US and Europe.
In the US, those concerns have prompted major banks to push for more action by the messaging network, according to two people familiar with the matter.
The Vietnam malware was “configured to parse transaction messages,” according to the BAE report. It included Swift codes for the New York and Hanoi branches of Industrial & Commercial Bank of China Ltd, the world’s largest bank by assets; Bank of Tokyo Mitsubishi UFJ Ltd, Japan’s largest bank; UniCredit SpA, Italy’s biggest bank; and Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Ltd, among others.
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The pressure on Swift comes as new details emerge from the most recently disclosed bank hack. An examination of the malware used in an attack late last year on Vietnam’s Tien Phong Commercial Joint Stock Bank shows that unique Swift codes identifying at least seven additional financial institutions were embedded in the hackers’ work, according to a private report by BAE Systems Plc.
The list includes major banks in Asia and at least one in Europe, including what two people familiar with the list said were banks where the Vietnamese lender had correspondent accounts. The malware wasn’t used to attack those banks, said one person familiar with the situation. Rather, it deleted money-transfer confirmations sent between the Vietnamese bank and its partners that could have alerted bank officials of improper transactions, the person said.
Such revelations -- coming on top of Swift’s warning last week of a “wider and highly adaptive campaign targeting banks” -- show that intruders’ efforts went beyond looking solely at small banks in developing nations. They have raised alarms inside global lenders, said people familiar with several banks in the US and Europe.
In the US, those concerns have prompted major banks to push for more action by the messaging network, according to two people familiar with the matter.
The Vietnam malware was “configured to parse transaction messages,” according to the BAE report. It included Swift codes for the New York and Hanoi branches of Industrial & Commercial Bank of China Ltd, the world’s largest bank by assets; Bank of Tokyo Mitsubishi UFJ Ltd, Japan’s largest bank; UniCredit SpA, Italy’s biggest bank; and Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Ltd, among others.
Click Here To Register For Free Trial Services OR Give A Missed Call : +6531581402 Follow Us On Twitter : www.twitter.com/epicresearchsg Like Us On Facebook : www.facebook.com/EpicResearchSingapore Need Any Assistance Feel Free To Mail Us at : info@epicresearch.sg
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