Demonstrating the need for increased security against malware and malicious website, reports have emerged of a group of unknown hackers that broke into Bangladesh’s central bank. Once in, they obtained the credentials needed for payment transfers from Federal Reserve Bank of New York and then transferred large sums to fraudulent accounts based in the Philippines and Sri Lanka.
Ultimately four requests to transfer a total of about $81 million to the Philippines had already gone through. A fifth , and misspelled request, for $20 million, gave the routing bank – Deutsche Bank – pause for concern. After deeper investigation, Deutsche Bank reached out to Bangladesh Bank for clarification and that’s when the heist was discovered, causing Bangladesh Bank to stop the latest transfer.
The malware in question could be a potential Remote Access Trojan (RAT) or a similar form of spyware that gave attackers the ability to gain remote control of the bank’s computer.
Read more here: Hacker’s typo trips the alarm on billion-dollar cyber bank heist
