$90 Million Cyber Thefts From Banks Using Swift Network Raise Security Issues

In February 2016, attackers stole $81 million from the Bangladesh central bank's account at the New York Federal Reserve Bank by hacking into the Bangladesh bank's computer network and sending fraudulent messages through the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT) payment network. In January 2015, attackers netted $9 million in funds from an Ecuadorian bank through fraudulent SWIFT messages. Information about the attacks and documents from a lawsuit related to the theft from the Ecuadorian bank reveal the challenging data security issues banks face when they use the SWIFT network.

How SWIFT operates. SWIFT, founded in 1973,^[1] is a cooperative owned by 3,000 financial institutions from around the world.^[2] SWIFT's message platform is used by more than 11,000 banks^[3] in 200 countries. ^[4] Those banks sent approximately 25 million SWIFT messages per day in April 2016.^[5] To use the SWIFT network, a person or business that wants to