For the first time ever in Russia, hackers have used SWIFT to rob a bank

For the first time in Russia, hackers have successfully cyber-attacked a bank using the SWIFT international banking network, security specialists and sources at Russia’s Central Bank told the newspaper Kommersant. The cyber-attack occurred on December 15, but both the name of the bank and the amount of money stolen remain unknown.

• According to the cyber-security company Group-IB, hackers from the so-called “Cobalt” group are the suspected culprits.
• A security official at Russia’s Central Bank told Kommersant that the hackers in fact seized control of the bank they attacked, and could have technically withdrawn the stolen money by several means. They used SWIFT, he speculated, because the transfer was international. The stolen funds were sent to accounts around the world, in Europe, Asia, and America.
• This was not the first time SWIFT has been used in a cyber-attack. The banking network’s officials have attributed past incidents to security vulnerabilities at individual banks targeted by hackers. The most prominent attack using SWIFT occurred in early 2016, when hackers stole tens of millions of dollars from Bangladesh’s Central Bank account at the U.S. Federal Reserve Bank of New York.