North Korean Connection? Fed Explores Link to $81 Million Heist, SWIFT Breach
- US authorities are investigating a potential link to last year's $81 million heist with North Korean hackers.

Nearly one year after an attempted heist of $1.0 billion from the Bangladesh Central Bank fund at the New York Fed via the hack of SWIFT’s software system, US authorities are investigating any links or traces of the funds that have since disappeared.
While the original theft was potentially much larger, the majority of the Payments Payments One of the bases of mediums of exchange in the modern world, a payment constitutes the transfer of a legal currency or equivalent from one party in exchange for goods or services to another entity. The payments industry has become a fixture of modern commerce, though the players involved and means of exchange have dramatically shifted over time.In particular, a party making a payment is referred to as a payer, with the payee reflecting the individual or entity receiving the payment. Most commonl One of the bases of mediums of exchange in the modern world, a payment constitutes the transfer of a legal currency or equivalent from one party in exchange for goods or services to another entity. The payments industry has become a fixture of modern commerce, though the players involved and means of exchange have dramatically shifted over time.In particular, a party making a payment is referred to as a payer, with the payee reflecting the individual or entity receiving the payment. Most commonl Read this Term were blocked, which resulted in no material losses – still over $81 million was routed to accounts in the Philippines and diverted to casinos there, which was the last stop that any regulatory authorities could trace the funds to.
US authorities at the NY Federal Reserve are now investigating any potential links with the heist to North Korea, given the similarity of the hack and digital footprint with other episodes of cyber attacks such as the incident against Sony Pictures, according to a Bloomberg report.
Under Seige
North Korea’s status as a pariah state extends into the world of banking and digital payments, which SWIFT doubled down on last month in a bid to close any potential loopholes into banking transactions. Still, hackers in the country have increasingly been able to launch successful attacks against banks and other organizations, with vulnerable defenses helping facilitate varied levels of success.
The ramifications of a link are manifold given North Korea’s capabilities of assaulting a bank. Such a revelation could prove problematic given that most Western countries maintain no diplomatic relations with the country. Regardless, banks, SWIFT, and other organizations have been strengthening their Cybersecurity Cybersecurity Cybersecurity is a blanket term that refers to the protection of computer systems and networks from the theft.More broadly speaking, cybersecurity can also represent countermeasures against damage to hardware, software, or electronic data, as well as from the disruption or misdirection of the services they provide.It was not long ago that the term cybersecurity not exist as it was first used in 1989. In today’s vernacular cybersecurity, refers to measures taken to protect a computer or computer Cybersecurity is a blanket term that refers to the protection of computer systems and networks from the theft.More broadly speaking, cybersecurity can also represent countermeasures against damage to hardware, software, or electronic data, as well as from the disruption or misdirection of the services they provide.It was not long ago that the term cybersecurity not exist as it was first used in 1989. In today’s vernacular cybersecurity, refers to measures taken to protect a computer or computer Read this Term measures in the face of such threats, though gaping holes in defenses remain.
Nearly one year after an attempted heist of $1.0 billion from the Bangladesh Central Bank fund at the New York Fed via the hack of SWIFT’s software system, US authorities are investigating any links or traces of the funds that have since disappeared.
While the original theft was potentially much larger, the majority of the Payments Payments One of the bases of mediums of exchange in the modern world, a payment constitutes the transfer of a legal currency or equivalent from one party in exchange for goods or services to another entity. The payments industry has become a fixture of modern commerce, though the players involved and means of exchange have dramatically shifted over time.In particular, a party making a payment is referred to as a payer, with the payee reflecting the individual or entity receiving the payment. Most commonl One of the bases of mediums of exchange in the modern world, a payment constitutes the transfer of a legal currency or equivalent from one party in exchange for goods or services to another entity. The payments industry has become a fixture of modern commerce, though the players involved and means of exchange have dramatically shifted over time.In particular, a party making a payment is referred to as a payer, with the payee reflecting the individual or entity receiving the payment. Most commonl Read this Term were blocked, which resulted in no material losses – still over $81 million was routed to accounts in the Philippines and diverted to casinos there, which was the last stop that any regulatory authorities could trace the funds to.
US authorities at the NY Federal Reserve are now investigating any potential links with the heist to North Korea, given the similarity of the hack and digital footprint with other episodes of cyber attacks such as the incident against Sony Pictures, according to a Bloomberg report.
Under Seige
North Korea’s status as a pariah state extends into the world of banking and digital payments, which SWIFT doubled down on last month in a bid to close any potential loopholes into banking transactions. Still, hackers in the country have increasingly been able to launch successful attacks against banks and other organizations, with vulnerable defenses helping facilitate varied levels of success.
The ramifications of a link are manifold given North Korea’s capabilities of assaulting a bank. Such a revelation could prove problematic given that most Western countries maintain no diplomatic relations with the country. Regardless, banks, SWIFT, and other organizations have been strengthening their Cybersecurity Cybersecurity Cybersecurity is a blanket term that refers to the protection of computer systems and networks from the theft.More broadly speaking, cybersecurity can also represent countermeasures against damage to hardware, software, or electronic data, as well as from the disruption or misdirection of the services they provide.It was not long ago that the term cybersecurity not exist as it was first used in 1989. In today’s vernacular cybersecurity, refers to measures taken to protect a computer or computer Cybersecurity is a blanket term that refers to the protection of computer systems and networks from the theft.More broadly speaking, cybersecurity can also represent countermeasures against damage to hardware, software, or electronic data, as well as from the disruption or misdirection of the services they provide.It was not long ago that the term cybersecurity not exist as it was first used in 1989. In today’s vernacular cybersecurity, refers to measures taken to protect a computer or computer Read this Term measures in the face of such threats, though gaping holes in defenses remain.