Dhaka, Bangladesh (BBN)- Experts have initially identified that the system was hacked within the central bank of Bangladesh, not in the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
The system by which US$100 million was stolen by allegedly China-origin hackers was executed in the US Federal Reserve Bank last month, according to sources.
An expert team is now investigating the overall cyber-security system of the Bangladesh Bank (BB), particularly its treasury back office, to find out any loophole or negligence on part of the officials concerned.
Initial investigation indicates that the initiation of hacking started within the vicinity of the central bank of Bangladesh although it was executed in the system of Federal Reserve Bank of the United States, they added.
Talking to BBN, a senior official of the central bank said the expert team comprising an experienced consultant of the World Bank and his forensic investigation team started the investigation with help from the BB IT (information technology) experts.
The team is now collecting information on cyber-security system from officials concerned, the central banker said without elaborating.
A meeting with the managing directors and chief executive officers (CEOs) and heads of IT departments of all the scheduled banks is scheduled to be held at the central bank headquarters in Dhaka on Wednesday afternoon to review the overall cyber-security systems in the country’s banking sector.
Earlier on Tuesday, the US Federal Reserve Bank reportedly denied its systems were breached but didn’t say whether funds deposited by the BB with the Fed had been drained from the account.
Meanwhile, the central bank of Bangladesh has able to recover around US$20 million out of $100 million taken away by cyber hackers from its foreign exchange reserve with the Federal Reserve Bank of New York recently.
Suspected Chinese-origin cybercriminals hacked in the forex reserves in the BB’s account with the US Federal Reserve Bank in New York on February 05.
A total of 35 orders were sent, one after another, which raised the alarm bells of the New York Fed's payment system, the sources added.
The New York Fed deemed the 35 payment orders suspicious and sent queries about them to the central bank, but since it was the weekend a response could not be sent promptly.
Although payments against the orders were suspended, five of them slipped through, making the hackers $101 million.
Of the amount, $81 million were wired to two banks in the Philippines and $20 million to a bank in Sri Lanka.
“$20 million has been deposited by the central bank of Sri Lanka in our foreign exchange reserve account recently after hacking the fund from Federal Reserve Bank of New York,” another BB official told BBN earlier.
He also said Bangladesh Financial Intelligence Unit (BFIU) is now working with its counterpart –the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) of the Philippines – actively to recover the rest of stolen fund.
BBN/SSR/AD