Kazi Zahidul Hasan :
Probing of the Bangladesh Bank’s (BB) $101 million cyber heist would be a tough job for the government’s inquiry committee that started its work officially on Sunday.
“It will be a tough task for the probe body …But we will use our all-out efforts to dig out how the electronic theft occurred and who masterminded it,” Dr Mohammed Farashuddin, Chairman of the Government probe body told The New Nation on Sunday night.
“We will do everything for the interest of the probe,” he added.
Farashuddin, a seasoned bureaucrat and also the former BB governor, however, declined to comment further saying that talking to media would not be ethical when the probe is at initial stage. Earlier, the government formed a three-member probe body to investigate into the cyber heist from BB account with the US Federal Reserve Bank.
Sources close to the probe body said that the body will try to find out why BB authorities kept the cyber heist a secret and also look into whether the bank officials were involved or their negligent led to the hacking.
They said, the body will also hold meeting with the authorities of the US Federal Reserve Bank, Swift, Philippines central bank, local and foreign IT experts and seek supports from the other government agencies to determine how the theft occurred.
The cyber criminals had used malicious code, known as malware, to penetrate the servers of BB computers. It had has been installed because of copying the electronic fund transfer mechanism. Why this issue remained unnoticed to the concerned BB official is a big question. The officials will be grilled by the probe body. The probe body will talk to the officials of concerned departments and ask explanation for their negligence, sources said.
The cyber criminals attempted to steal nearly $1 billion from Bangladesh’s account at the US Bank. The size of the transactions triggered concern, which led to the Fed blocking some of the transfers, but the thieves were able to move about $81 million to accounts in the Philippines and another $20 million to a bank in Sri Lanka.
The theft led to the resignation of BB governor Atiur Rahman and sacking of several other senior officials.
The inquiry committee will also talk with the former BB governor and other sacked BB high officials for the sake of the inquiry. It will also advise the government on protecting Bangladesh Bank reserve funds from further hacking.
