Pierluigi Paganini
May 17, 2018
Mexican central bank is the last victim of the SWIFT hackers, officials at the bank confirmed this week that hackers hit the payments system and stole millions of dollars from domestic banks.
The attack was discovered in late April and presents many similarities with past attacks against the SWIFT systems.
The Mexican central bank did not disclose the name of the banks that were hit by the cyber attack and did not detail the overall amount of money that crooks have stolen.
According to Alejandro Diaz de Leon, head of Mexico’s central bank, crooks were able to complete illicit transactions of $18 million to $20 million.
“Central bank Governor Alejandro Diaz de Leon said on Monday that the country had seen an unprecedented attack on payment system connections and that he hoped that measures being taken would stop future incidents.” reported the Reuters.
“A source close to the government’s investigation said more than 300 million had been siphoned out of banks, but it was not clear how much had subsequently been taken out in cash withdrawals.”
According to reports, Mexico’s central following the latest cyber attacks has created a cybersecurity division, and it has instituted a one-day waiting period on electronic funds transfers of more than $2,500.
“Perhaps, some financial institutions perceived the attacks in Bangladesh as something very distant,” said Alejandro Diaz de Leon who believes that some Mexican banks may not have invested in sufficient security measures.
“But criminals look for vulnerability and once they see it they are going to exploit it.”
Mexican depositors won’t be affected, but the overall losses for the local banks could be greater than initially thought.
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(Security Affairs – Mexican central bank, SWIFT)
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