Manila, Phillipines (BBN)-North Korea is most likely behind the $81-million Bangladesh Central Bank cyber heist, said retired Israel military colonel Ram Dor in a forum on Tuesday, adding that Vietnam was similarly attacked through the SWIFT banking system recently.
"A malware similar to the Sony event in the US was used (in the Bangladesh heist)," said Dor, founder and chief executive officer of RDeye, an Israel-based cyber security company, reports the Inter Akyson.com.
In 2014, Sony Pictures Entertainment was hacked, costing the company an estimated $35 million in IT repairs, not to mention substantial damage to the company's reputation.
Central banks are targeted because big money is there, he said.
"This was a special operation that took at least two years to plan and execute," said the former Israel Defense Force chief security officer.
Comparing the Bangladesh cyber heist to a serial murder case, Dor said the culprit can be identified by looking into the target and how the perpetrator gathered information about and assessed the target.
He said the scale of resources needed to mount such a successful attack suggests support at the national level.
BBN/SK/AD