The Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT), known to be the most secure financial messaging system in the world, has fallen victim to yet another attack, according to Reuters. News regarding the original heist surfaced in February when cybercriminals were able to persuade the Federal Reserve Bank for New York to move $81 million from the central bank of Bangladesh to bank accounts in the Philippines. While other heists have surfaced since then, the latest news comes from a private letter to SWIFT clients claiming they have discovered some recent successful cyber-theft attempts. “Customers’ environments have been compromised, and subsequent attempts [were] made to send fraudulent payment instructions,” according to a copy of the letter obtained by Reuters. “The threat is persistent, adaptive and sophisticated – and it is here to stay.”
While a SWIFT spokeswoman declined to elaborate on any recent developments, including security details and the banks involved in the heist, the letter did state that all the victims had weak local network security that the attackers exploited. Since the original theft in February, SWIFT has been pushing banks and other financial institutions to implement new security measures, going as for to say they may report banks to regulators and their partners if they fail to install the latest software by a November 19 deadline.