VULNERABLE

Thieves ‘Hack’ SWIFT Global Bank Network

Took $81M from Bangladesh in unprecedented attack.

British researchers say the hackers who stole $81 million from Bangladesh’s central bank in February likely gained access via the highly guarded SWIFT banking software, a key financial platform for thousands of institutions worldwide. Officials for SWIFT—the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication—indicated Monday they are aware of malware targeting its client, and that it will issue a warning to its banks to take special caution. As Reuters suggests, such an unprecedented compromising of widely used financial security software could indicate troubling vulnerabilities in worldwide financial markets.