SWIFT, the global provider of interbank money transfer services, has confirmed more cyber attacks on its member banks.
The attacks occurred after SWIFT updated security procedures following February’s breach at the Bangladesh central bank.
SWIFT sent a private letter to clients, saying that new cyber-theft attempts have occurred since June, some of which have been successful.
The global financial messaging system last June updated customers on a string of attacks discovered after the attack on the Bangladesh central bank.
Cyber criminals have increased their efforts at hacking banks, especially those with poor security procedures for SWIFT-enabled transfers.
While SWIFT admitted that some of its member banks lost money in the attacks, it did not go into details.
One common denominator across the breached banks is weak local security that allowed hackers successfully carry out exploits to compromise local networks, and send fake messages requesting money transfer.
SWIFT has made it a point of duty to warn members about the extreme importance of tight security procedures, saying all successful exploits to date have been from the end of members with lax security practices.
SWIFT further hinted that it might resort to reporting members with poor security to regulators and banking partners if they failed to meet a November 19 deadline for the installation of the latest version of its software—specifically designed to deter the kinds of attacks identified by the service.
Some of the security features include the implementation of stronger password management, technology to verify credentials of those accessing a bank’s SWIFT system and improved tools for identifying attempts to breach the software.
SWIFT’s messaging services are used in more than 200 countries, and the network processed 25.6 billion financial transfers in 2014.
