SWIFT has been known to provide a secure means for banks all over the world to send money transfer instructions to each other. However, cybercriminals hacked into the central bank of Bangladeshs SWIFT network and stole USD 81 million by sending false messages to New Yorks Federal Reserve Bank in February.
In 2015, thieves hacked into Ecuadors Banco del Austro using the same method, allowing them to get away with more than USD 12 million. Another attack was attempted on the Tien Phong Bank in Vietnam but failed.
SWIFT is now calling on banks around the world to carry out drastic improvements on how they share information with each other, to strengthen their procedures for security around SWIFTs own system, and to use programs designed to spot issues in payments more often.
The company is also willing to provide stricter guidelines for regulators and auditors so that they can better assess whether a particular banks security procedures for its system meet the right standards.
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