Hackers stole $6 m from Russian bank via SWIFT: Russian Central Bank

Magnitogorsk, Russia (Reuters): Unknown hackers stole 339.5 million roubles ($ 6 million) from a Russian bank last year, in an attack using the SWIFT international payments messaging system, the Russian central bank said on 16 February.

The disclosure, buried at the bottom of a central bank report on digital thefts in the Russian banking sector, is the latest in a string of attempted and successful cyber heists using fraudulent wire-transfer requests.

The central bank said it had been sent information about “one successful attack on the work place of a SWIFT system operator.”

“The volume of unsanctioned operations as a result of this attack amounted to 339.5 million roubles,” the bank said.

After the report’s publication, a central bank spokesman said hackers had taken control of a computer at a Russian bank and used the SWIFT system to transfer the money to their own accounts.

The spokesman declined to name the bank or provide further details. He quoted Central Bank Security Department deputy head Artem Sychev as saying this was “a common scheme”.

A spokeswoman for SWIFT, whose messaging system is used to transfer trillions of dollars each day, said the company does not comment on specific entities. “When a case of potential fraud is reported to us, we offer our assistance to the affected user to help secure its environment,” said the spokeswoman, Natasha de Teran.

SWIFT says its own systems have never been compromised by hackers.

Brussels-based SWIFT said late last year digital heists were becoming increasingly prominent as hackers use more sophisticated tools and techniques to launch new attacks.

In December 2017, hackers tried to steal 55 million roubles from Russian state bank Globex using the SWIFT system, and digital thieves made off with $81 million from Bangladesh Bank in February 2016. SWIFT has 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 and Nepal’s NIC Asia Bank.

India’s City Union Bank CEO says suffered cyber hack via SWIFT system

MUMBAI (Reuters) - India’s City Union Bank said on Sunday that “cyber criminals” had hacked its systems and transferred nearly $2 million through three unauthorized remittances to lenders overseas via the SWIFT financial platform.

The comments come after the small private lender on Saturday had disclosed it had discovered the three “fraudulent remittances”, which were sent via correspondent banks to accounts in Dubai, Turkey and China.

Chief Executive Officer N. Kamakodi called it a “conspiracy” involving multiple countries, and added the lender was still investigating how it had happened.

“This is basically a cyber attack by international cyber criminals,” he told Reuters in a phone interview.

Kamakodi added they saw “so far no evidence of any internal staff involvement,” but said “we are very clear now the account holders are part of this conspiracy.”

City Union said on Saturday it had been able to block one of the remittances, totaling $500,000, that was being sent through a Standard Chartered Bank account in New York to a Dubai-based lender.

A second transfer of 300,000 euros ($372,150) was routed through a Standard Chartered Bank account in Frankfurt to a Turkish account, although the Turkish lender had blocked the transfer from being finalised.

A third totaling $1 million was sent through a Bank of America account in New York to a China-based bank, which Kamakodi on Sunday identified as Zhejiang Rural Credit Cooperative Union in Hangzhou, China.

Kamakodi said the lender was working with Indian authorities to work with affected countries to investigate what happened. He added City Union was also strengthening its internal monitoring systems.

Brussels-based SWIFT has been urging banks to bolster security of computers used to transfer money since Bangladesh Bank lost $81 million in a February 2016 cyber heist that targeted central bank computers used to move funds.

Banking security experts said Indian banks that rely on the SWIFT messaging platform needed to be more vigilant. Industry experts say more than 100 financial institutions in India are connected with SWIFT including the central bank.