Bangladesh’s central bank said on Monday its account with the US Federal Reserve Bank of NY had been hacked and money had been stolen from it, but that it had recovered some of the funds.
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Some 250 central banks, governments, and other institutions have foreign accounts at the New York Fed, which is near the centre of the global financial system.
The Federal Reserve Bank of NY issued a brief statement on the incident a day after Bangladesh’s central bank disclosed the theft, saying its account at the US Federal Reserve had been hacked.
“Bangladesh Financial Intelligence Unit (BFIU) is working with the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) of the Philippines to recover the money from there”, it said.
In a statement for Reuters, a Federal Reserve spokesperson has declined to acknowledge the incident, saying that, on their end, the bank did not detect any sign of an intrusion.
Suspected Chinese hackers stole the money from Bangladesh’s foreign exchange account on Feb 5, according to a Dhaka central bank official and media reports.
The Federal Reserve Bank, however, has denied that its payments systems were breached.
Wishing anonymity, a deputy governor of the BB, said the Federal Reserve Bank of NY had failed to do due diligence in dealing with the hacking threat.
“In the meantime, the Philippines’ anti-money-laundering authority filed case in that country and obtained court order to freeze the concerned bank accounts”.
Yesterday, Bangladesh Bank officials claimed that they have identified the people involved in the hacking.
They siphoned money through SWIFT after observing how bank employees crafted their messages so they could follow correct protocols, said Juan Guerrero, a researcher with Kaspersky Lab, which studied the campaign.
When asked if the government will take step following the denial of responsibility, Muhith said: “Of course”. The accounts hold mostly US Treasuries and agency debt, and requests for funds arrive and are authenticated by a so-called Swift network that connects banks.
The New York Fed has been hacked before.
It also said the funds had been leaked into the Philippines’ banking system, transferred to local casinos, and moved out to overseas accounts.
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In a broader breach of the US government, details came to light a year ago about a massive computer hack that put the personal data of some 22 million Americans at risk.
