The Federal Reserve Bank of New York is in an “arms race” to keep beefing up protections against cyber threats, its president has when asked about the heist of $81 million from Bangladesh’s central bank’s account held at his institution.
“This is an ongoing effort to continue to upgrade (and) reduce the vulnerabilities of our perimeter, and recognizing that there are bad people out there that do want to do harm to us,” New York Fed President William Dudley said on Friday in his first public comments on the recent heist, which is being investigated in an international effort.
“This is something we focus on very, very intently,” and want the New York Fed to be “buttoned up in terms of cyber security risk,” he added.
Hackers tried to steal around $1 billion from Bangladesh Bank’s account with New York Fed in early February.
They made a number of fund transfer orders through Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT) system, a computer network used for fund transfer advice between member banks worldwide.
Of the hackers’ orders, $81 million found its way to and beyond the Philippines. Transfer of $20 million to Sri Lanka was halted as the hackers made a spelling mistake in the order.
Source: Bd news24
