The Bangladesh Bank has warned all commercial banks in the country of possible cyber attacks and asked them to ratchet up security measures.
In a letter sent out to top bank officials on Thursday, the central bank’s Payment Systems Department cited recent hacking in banks in the neighbouring country.
“Bangladesh, as emerging economy, also faces the threat of cyber attacks. In these circumstances, banks’ technological security will need to fortify to avoid possible cyber attack,” reads the letter.
On Wednesday (Aug 15), the telecoms and ICT ministry fears that Bangladesh Bank may come under another big cyber-attack and they have already warned the central bank.
The concern was voiced in a letter written by ICT Minister Mustafa Jabbar to senior secretary of the finance division of the ministry of finance.
The letter seen by Bangla Tribune was sent on 9 August.
On 4 Feb, 2016, $10 crore 10 lakh was stolen from the US Federal Reserve Bank of New York. Of this, $ 2 crore sent to Sri Lanka came back but $ 8 crore 10 lakh changed hands, allegedly through gambling syndicates and, only $ 1.5 crore was recovered.
This sensational heist created ripples across the world and a probe committee led by former Bangladesh Bank governor Mohammad Farashuddin submitted a report to the finance minister, which has not been published as yet.
The letter sent to the finance division underlined that the cyber security team, formed to safeguard important government information, has found malwares in the central bank’s computer system.
As per the letter, these malwares are transferring information from the bank to cyber criminals in Kazakhstan, China, Japan and Romania.
The letter further warned that unless preventive measures are taken, there may soon be a disaster.
Bangladesh Bank spokesperson and executive director, Sirajul Islam, told Bangla Tribune: “after the reserve heist, SWIFT connections from all bank computers have been disconnected so, even if there’s malware, criminals won’t be able to cause any further harm.”
Previously, Dr Atiur Rahman said: “the heist took place as there was a lack of proper knowledge about cyber security.”
Calling the reserve skimming an accident, Dr Atiur Rahman, said: “any mishap is a learning experience; we have to take lesson from that incident and ensure it never happens again.”
Following the 2016 mammoth cyber scandal concerning reserves of Bangladesh Bank, Dr Atiur Rahman resigned from the post of governor of the central bank.