Vietnam bank says interrupted cyber heist using SWIFT messaging

Vietnam's Tien Phong Bank said that it interrupted an attempted cyber heist that involved the use of fraudulent SWIFT messages, the same technique at the heart of February's massive theft from the Bangladesh central bank.

 

Hanoi-based TPBank said in a statement late on Sunday
in response to inquiries from Reuters that in the fourth quarter of last year it identified suspicious requests through fraudulent SWIFT messages to transfer more than 1 million euros (US$1.1 million) of funds.
TPBank said it caught the attempt quickly enough to halt movement of funds to criminals by immediately contacting involved parties.
The attack "did not cause any losses. It had no impact on the SWIFT system in particular and the transaction system between the bank and customers in general," the bank's statement said.
The bank said the transfers were made using infrastructure of an outside vendor hired to connect it to the SWIFT bank messaging system. Its statement did not name the service provider, though it said TPBank has discontinued working with that vendor and switched to using a new system that offers a higher level of security and enables it to connect directly with SWIFT.
SWIFT, the backbone of global financial transactions, declined comment on TPBank's claims. On Thursday, it had said a unnamed commercial bank was targeted by a malware attack similar to the one at Bangladesh Bank.
TPBank did not immediately respond to requests from Reuters late on Sunday to elaborate on its statement. Representatives with Vietnam's central bank also did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
It was not immediately clear when SWIFT was made aware of the attempted cyber heist at TPBank and whether it took any action to prevent similar attacks or warned other clients.
In February, in one of the world's biggest ever cyber-heists, hackers tried to steal nearly US$1 billion from Bangladesh Bank's account at the New York Federal Reserve using fraudulent transfer messages on the SWIFT system.
Most of the orders were blocked but US$81 million was transferred to bank accounts in the Philippines. The money was moved to casinos and casino agents and most remains missing.