Ukrainian bank loses $10m in cyber heist due to flawed global financial network

Shortly after hackers snatched $81 million from the Bangladesh Bank in an attempted $951 million cyber heist back in February, an unnamed Ukrainian bank has now fallen victim to a similar vulnerability, the KyivPost reports.

The thieves exploited a flaw in the SWIFT network responsible for overseeing transactions between financial institutions worldwide. The exact amount of money stolen hasn’t been revealed, but the sum is reportedly around the $10 million mark.

However, the total damages from this vulnerability might be much more substantial as it is likely other banks in the Ukrainian financial ecosystem have been compromised too.

According to ISACA, the information security company hired to investigate the theft, dozens of (mostly Russian and Ukrainian) banks have been breached already. This means the real magnitude of the attack could be hundreds of millions.

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ISACA further says that such heists usually take months to complete as hackers will monitor the bank’s internal controls and procedures in order to learn how to avoid getting caught when thieving.

The news comes after a series of reported breaches in the SWIFT banking system over the last few months, which has led to calls for renewed attention to the system’s protective measures.

In the case of the Bangladesh Bank robbery, it was later revealed that the attack was possible partially due to poor security standards – something Ukrainian banks have also been repeatedly criticized for.