Most of my friends know that Bangladesh’s central bank was hacked by people who got in through SWIFT, something that never should have happened if the banks followed the rules. Now, that same group is said to have hacked the Far Eastern International Bank in Taiwan. Perhaps we are not seeing thefts of banks in their proper light.
Banks, especially big banks, are not supposed to get hacked, especially by a state-managed group. North Korea does not have rouge gangs out stealing stuff in the international banking scene. It requires too much resources and a safe place to operate from. The North is a little short on both. Can a gang operate there and the government not know? Unlikely.
This looks to me like a state enterprise trying to disrupt the international banking infrastructure, a stated goal of the Chinese military preparing for war with the US. In my second edition of my first book I have some examples quoting Chinese generals who seek that goal but would not want to be associated with actually doing it. They say, in fact, that no war would be fought if the financial infrastructure were to be disrupted. North Korea gets that kind of work to test out these new forms of war and hide the real culprits behind it.
This is really dangerous and potentially disruptive beyond anything cyberspace has produced so far. Yes, the Russians can knock out power in a couple of cities, and that counts for disruption. But this is demonstrating a capability to disrupt the banking system. They make it look like theft to hide the real purpose. The financial community needs to take this more seriously than it has. Security in big banks is not what it used to be and needs a quantum improvement to keep up. SWIFT needs to get its act together. This is not the same as theft for profit and the banks need help with intelligence and techniques being used. They also need tighter oversight of operations. All in all, they need to step up their game.
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