Bangko Sentral foils attempts to hack its website

MANILA, Philippines - The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) has prevented attempts by cyber thieves to hack its website following the $81-million theft from the Bangladesh Bank.

BSP Governor Amando Tetangco Jr. revealed this yesterday on the sidelines of the Financial Inclusion Summit 2016 organized by the Bank of the Philippine Islands.

“Yes, there were attempts and I think this is a fact of life, but we were able to turn them back,” Tetangco said.

He did not give details like the date of the incident or the number of times the hacks were attempted.

“Basically (there were) attempts to hack the website,” Tetangco said when asked whether the attempts were aimed to steal funds from the BSP.

In September 2012, the BSP website was attacked by hackers claiming to be with Anonymous Philippines. They claimed the act was done to protest the new Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012.

Aside from the BSP, websites of the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System, Philippine Anti-Piracy Team, American Chamber of Commerce in the Philippines, Department of Environment and Natural Resources-Region 3, Department of Health and the Institute for Development and Econometric Analysis were hacked.

In February, hackers tried to steal $1 billion from the account of the Bangladesh Central Bank at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

The Society for Worldwide Inter-bank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT), the global financial network, earlier warned about multiple cyber-fraud incidents targeting its system.

Of the amount from the Bangladesh Bank, about $81 million entered the Philippines through fictitious bank accounts at the Rizal Commercial Banking Corp.

The BSP, Anti-Money Laundering Council and the Senate Blue Ribbon committee are conducting separate investigations on the money laundering scam.

Tetangco said firewalls and other security features, including intrusion prevention systems, have been embedded in the central bank’s information technology systems to fend off cyber attacks.

“In terms of cyber security, there are always risks. What is important is that these risks are properly addressed by firewalls and other security features that have to be embedded in the IT systems,” he said.

The BSP chief said the bank regulator has directed BSP-supervised financial institutions to strengthen their security systems to prevent cyber theft.

“I think the BSP has issued the advice to BSP- supervised entities to make sure that they have a robust security system. Hacking or attempts of such always happen, but what is important is these should not be successful,” the BSP chief said.

Earlier, Reuters reported that SWIFT warned its customers that it was aware of “a number of recent cyber incidents” where attackers sent fraudulent messages in its systems.

SWIFT’s network is used by banks to transfer billions of dollars every day.