Cyber Underworld Hackers attacked Union Bank of India, a public sector bank. The attack was very similar to the Bangladesh bank heist that resulted in the theft of $81 million last year.The attack against the Union Bank started in July 2016 when scammers sent an email containing a malicious attachment to an employee at the Union Bank of India, Reuters reported citing the Wall Street Journal.The malware was initiated as the employee opened the attachment in the mail which resembled mail from RBI. The malware in the attachment hacked SWIFT (Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication) codes of Union Bank. These codes are necessary to transfer funds. The cyber thieves then instructed to transfer $170 million to a Union Bank account at Citigroup Inc in New York using these hacked codes. Fortunately, Union Bank was successful in spotting the attackers and block the transfer.By the end of last year, SWIFT informed some of the banks using its system had been attacked after the Bangladesh heist, but there was no indication of Union Bank’s involvement. SWIFT had also warned all banks to ensure and strengthen security measures after the attack of Bangladesh central bank.According to SWIFT, there is a tremendous increase in these type of attacks, and some are being successful. The attackers take advantage of the weaknesses in the bank’s local security measures.SWIFT officials had been working with the bank since the day of the cyber attack, according to Union Bank Chairman Arun Tiwari, a report from WSJ.The Secure Reading team has discovered that educating the employees about these cyber attacks and how to diagnose suspicious emails is mandatory in the present scenario. It also includes making the employees aware of keeping strong passwords and briefing on online security. The majority of the attacks are the result of loopholes in the local security measures through which the attacks are infiltrated.
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