back to article SWIFT moves on security in wake of hacking attacks

The team behind the SWIFT financial transaction network is taking another look at its security after several hacking attempts against its customers. In February, hackers managed to siphon off $81m from Bangladesh's central bank in a raid that – but for a spelling mistake that alerted an analyst – could have taken a lot more. …

  1. Snafu1

    SOS!

    Help! Help! We're under attack and have no idea what to do! Someone please help!

    Have you tried turning it off & then on again, and/or unplugging it from the network? (Well, that's what most Bangladeshi or other 3rd/2nd world 'support' lines seem to say IME..)

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Facepalm

      Re: SOS!

      That's what "1st" world support "leads" pay them to say!

  2. Tomato42
    FAIL

    That's what happens if you consider IT _only_ a cost centre: you get an even bigger bill at the end of the day

  3. robidy

    What I can't understand is how you can bypass two factor authentication to transfer $81 million without any alerts flagging the problem.

    Ah! They don't have 2FA...what the f*%#, why not?

    1. oldcoder

      Even WITH two factor authentication... That ONLY works with a human.

      Computer to computer communications and transactions can't use that. What happens is that the 2F authentication is used to get a secret key...

      And once you get hold of that "secret key" you can do anything you want while that key is valid.

    2. a_yank_lurker

      @robidy - While 2FA will stop many attacks it will not stop all. But there is a related issue of what transaction size will automatically trigger human intervention/interaction. It seems like there is none at the current time so one is dependent solely on perfect security/use of the credentials.

  4. Tree

    speedy

    Time is money, but too fast transfers lead to temptations. A courier service is not as fast, and not free of risk, but at least the money can be tracked down. Where did Bangladesh's money go? Can you get it back? It is not safe to use online transfers. Go to the bank and get currency because this internet is not safe.

    1. Danny 2

      Re: speedy

      The money went to unregulated casinos in the Philippines. A local bank manager was caught leaving work with an armoured car full of cash, so that small portion of the money will presumably be returned. The rest of it went to upgrade the Chinese triads into quads.

  5. Anonymous Coward
    Facepalm

    SWIFT taking another look at its security

    How is SWIFT to blame when the breech was facilited by a classic Windows hack. The hack consisting of replacing two bytes in a running process to always force a validity check.

  6. selina.davis
    Joke

    I am almost completely convinced Taylor Swift is actually a robot.

    its the only logical explanation for her being the way she is.

  7. Chika
    Mushroom

    Will you get that creepy woman off my screen?!?

POST COMMENT House rules

Not a member of The Register? Create a new account here.

  • Enter your comment

  • Add an icon

Anonymous cowards cannot choose their icon

Other stories you might like