SWIFT has turned down the allegations brought by Bangladesh Bank and police that technicians with a global financial network left the nation’s central bank more vulnerable to hackers three months before $81 million cyber heist. In a statement on Monday, SWIFT came up with the comment in the wake of a Reuters story that quoted Bangladesh Bank and Bangladesh Police’s Criminal Investigation Department (CID) officials as saying that the central bank became more vulnerable to hackers when technicians from SWIFT connected a new bank transaction system to SWIFT messaging three months before a $81 million cyber heist. The Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT), a Belgium-based organisation, provides a network that enables financial institutions worldwide to send and receive information about financial transactions in a secure, standardized and reliable environment. SWIFT termed ‘false, inaccurate and misleading’ the allegations made by BB and CID officials to Reuters against its technicians, saying the accusations have no basis in fact.” “SWIFT was not responsible for any of the issues cited by the officials, or party to the related decisions. As a SWIFT user like any other, Bangladesh Bank is responsible for the security of its own systems interfacing with the SWIFT network and their related environment — starting with basic password protection practices — in much the same way as they are responsible for their other internal security considerations,” the statement reads. It further said, SWIFT looks forward to the meeting with Bangladesh Bank and New York Federal Reserve Bank officials in Basel today (Tuesday), when the bank’s security issues and these ‘baseless’ allegations will be discussed. “SWIFT will not comment further ahead of that meeting.” Hackers reportedly swindled out the huge amount of money from the central bank’s account with the Federal Reserve Bank of New York in February last. The sensational heist surfaced after a Philippines newspaper published a report on it. — Dhaka, May 10 (UNB)
