Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Gov. Nestor Espenilla Jr. (File photo by JOSEPH AGCAOILI / Philippine Daily Inquirer)
The Philippines’ financial system was put on heightened alert against laundered cash just as the country entered into the long Lenten holidays, at the request of the Malaysian central bank, which said it had foiled a major cyber heist attempt last week.
In a press statement late Thursday, the Bank Negara Malaysia said it had detected and stopped “a cybersecurity incident involving attempted unauthorized fund transfers using falsified SWIFT messages.”
The plot is reminiscent of the $1-billion hack on the Bangladeshi central bank in 2016, of which $81 million found its way into the Philippine financial system.
Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) Governor Nestor Espenilla Jr. sounded the alarm to the Bankers Association of the Philippines on Wednesday after receiving the alert from his Malaysian counterparts.
BUSINESS
BUSINESS
BUSINESS
He noted parallels in the modus operandi of the foiled hack attempt on the Bank Negara last week and the successful one on the Bangladeshi central bank two years ago.
“Hackers tend to take advantage of long holidays anywhere in the world, similar to the timing when they hit Bangladesh Bank,” he said, referring to the original incident in 2016, which was hit just ahead of a three-day Chinese New Year weekend.
