Global banks are privately pressing the SWIFT interbank network to beef up security of its 11,000 members following a series of cyber attacks, including the multi-million-dollar hack in Bangladesh, AsiaFirst reported. They have urged it to improve its security following reports that malware used in an attack on Vietnam’s Tien Phong Commercial Joint Stock Bank shows that unique SWIFT codes identifying at least seven additional financial institutions were embedded in the hackers’ work. Vietnam’s Tien Phong, known as TPBank, informed the country’s regulators last week that it had fended off a fraudulent transfer request late last year for more than €1 million ($1.13 million) that came through a third-party service that the bank used to connect to the SWIFT system.
