Thieves attempted to pull off one of the biggest cyber bank heists in history but a spelling mistake foiled the plan.
So far investigators have not found any proof that central bank staff in Bangladesh were involved, one of the officials said, but said the probe was continuing.
Security experts say that if insiders were not involved, the attackers likely had assistance from somebody close to the banking industry. They also may have spied on bank workers over an extended period to gain details about wire-transfer processes and other operations, they said.
It takes somebody with deep knowledge of the banking industry to perform these types of crime,” said Shane Shook, a security consultant who has investigated some of the biggest cyber breaches on record.
The Bangladesh central bank had billions of dollars in its current account, which it used for international settlements, officials have said. The stolen money made its way to various parts of the world.
Some $80 million are believed to have ended in the Philippines, and further diverted to casinos and then to Hong Kong, according to bank officials. One $20 million transaction was directed to a non-profit organization in Sri Lanka.
But the unusually large transaction for the island nation and a misspelling of the NGO’s name raised red flags that helped bring the robbery to light. The transaction was blocked as was another huge payment instruction that was for between $850 million and $870 million.
Wow! Is anything safe anymore?!
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