> series: anatomy_of_a_breach —— part: 085 —— target: bangladesh_bank —— attempted: $951,000,000 —— stolen: $81,000,000<span class="cursor-blink">_</span>_
On 4 February 2016, hackers submitted 35 fraudulent transfer requests through Bangladesh Bank's connection to the SWIFT (Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication) network — the messaging system used by over 11,000 financial institutions worldwide to authorise interbank transfers. The requests, totalling approximately $951 million, instructed the Federal Reserve Bank of New York to transfer funds from Bangladesh Bank's account to accounts in the Philippines and Sri Lanka.
Most of the transfers were blocked — some by the Fed's automated compliance systems, and one because a transfer to a Sri Lankan entity named 'Shalika Fandation' was flagged due to the misspelling of 'Foundation'. But five transfers totalling $101 million were processed before the fraud was detected. Of that, $20 million to Sri Lanka was recovered, but $81 million routed to accounts in the Philippines — funnelled through casinos and money changers — was never fully recovered. The attack was later attributed to North Korea's Lazarus Group, the same state-sponsored unit behind the Sony Pictures attack.
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Free Scoping CallThe Bangladesh Bank heist demonstrated that payment messaging systems — SWIFT, BACS, Faster Payments, CHAPS — require the highest level of security controls: dedicated, hardened terminals for payment messaging, multi-person authorisation for high-value transfers, real-time monitoring of payment activity, and continuous security testing of the infrastructure that supports payment operations.
For UK financial services firms, our penetration testing assesses payment system security including SWIFT terminal hardening. Cyber Essentials establishes baseline controls. SOC in a Box for Financial Services monitors payment system activity 24/7. And UK Cyber Defence provides incident response when payment system compromise is suspected.
Our <a href="/penetration-testing/infrastructure">penetration testing</a> assesses payment system security. <a href="https://www.socinabox.co.uk/sectors/ifas-wealth-managers">SOC in a Box</a> monitors payment activity. Because the next heist might not have a misspelling to save you.
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