Malaysia’s central bank yesterday said it thwarted a cyberattack in which fraudulent messages to transfer funds were sent on the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT) transactions platform, the latest in a series of electronic heists at financial institutions around the world.
While Bank Negara Malaysia said no funds were lost in the incident on Tuesday, it is the second known hack of a central bank after the 2016 theft of US$81 million from Bangladesh Bank.
Brussels-based SWIFT said late last year digital heists were becoming increasingly common as hackers use more sophisticated tools and techniques to launch new attacks.
SWIFT declined to disclose the number of attacks or identify any victims, but details on some cases have become public, including attacks on Taiwan’s Far Eastern International Bank (遠東商銀) and Nepal’s NIC Asia Bank.
It is not known who was behind the Bank Negara hack, or how they accessed the bank’s SWIFT servers, but it is likely to prompt further calls to increase security.
Bank Negara said it has taken additional safeguards to protect its stakeholders.
The bank, which supervises 45 commercial banks in Malaysia, did not immediately respond to requests for more details.
There was no disruption to other payment and settlement systems the central bank operates because of the cyberattack, it said
The bank said it is conducting an investigation in collaboration with local and international law enforcement agencies.
SWIFT did not provide any details on the cyberattack, and said it does not comment on individual entities.
However, Bangladesh Bank Deputy Governor Abu Hena Mohd Razee Hassan said the latest attack showed that the SWIFT platform remains vulnerable.
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