LA HULPE, Belgium–SWIFT, the messaging network that connects the world's banks, is warning that it has identified new hacks targeting its member institutions and is urging those institutions to improve their security and prepare for “ongoing attacks.”
SWIFT did not identify any specific banks that have been targeted, but the warning follows cyberattacks on banks in Ecuador, the Philippines, Vietnam and Bangladesh in which malware was installed and in some cases substantial amounts of money were stolen.
SWIFT said banks should take steps to protect themselves against "persistent, adaptive and sophisticated" attacks, which use a similar method to crack their local security systems.
"These weaknesses have been identified and exploited by the attackers, enabling them to compromise the customers' local environments and input the fraudulent messages," SWIFT said in its statement.
SWIFT also did not say how many new attacks had been discovered, and noted its network and core messaging services have not been compromised by the attacks.