Cyber attacks against banks amplified fears for industries

MNA Business Desk: A chain of remarkable cyber attacks against banks has amplified fears for industries becoming an attractive aim for hackers.

Banks in Bangladesh, the Philippines, Vietnam and Ecuador have been abused over the past year in the attacks on the international interbank service known as SWIFT (Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication).

Cyber security experts said that these attacks are likely just the tip of the iceberg, and expect more exposes.

“Cyber criminals are no longer targeting grandmothers at home for small amounts, but going directly where the money is.” said Juan Andres Guerrero-Saade, a researcher with the security firm Kaspersky.

“I don’t think this implies it is nation-states, it’s more of an evolution,” the analyst said. “It’s criminal actors taking on some of those techniques.”

However, Kaspersky scholars last year exposed a hacker group which targeted banks in Eastern Europe, approximating losses tallying up to $1 billion.

Dan Guido, co-founder of the security firm Trail of Bits and hacker-in-residence at New York University’s engineering school said the current security gaps are not astonishing.

Guido also said that a moderately small squad of strong-minded hackers could carry out the kind of hacks that went through SWIFT.

The majority of international interbank messages use the SWIFT network. As of September 2010, SWIFT linked more than 9,000 financial institutions in 209 countries and territories, who were exchanging an average of over 15 million messages per day (compared to an average of 2.4 million daily messages in 1995).

SWIFT transports financial messages in a highly secure way but does not hold accounts for its members and does not perform any form of clearing or settlement.

On July 11, SWIFT announced it had hired cyber security firms BAE Systems and Fox-IT while creating its own security intelligence team in an effort to thwart attacks.

In the United States, concerns have been raised among officials, industry leaders and lawmakers about potential threats to banks from hackers.

The American Bankers Association in July joined with other financial and security organizations to warn of possible risks. A key part of staying ahead of hackers is sharing information about threats to enable security solutions, since many companies fear disclosure would hurt their business.