$81 Million Bangladesh Cyber Heist Cuts Into SWIFT’s Earnings

Whenever there’s a breach in security, it’s never good news. This especially holds true when there’s any level of financial loss in the mix.

Back in February, hackers were responsible for stealing $81 million from the Bangladesh central bank. This was done through one of financial messaging transaction system Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication’s (SWIFT) terminal access point.

Although this happened after the start of the year, SWIFT’s 2016 profits decreased by 31 percent, which equals roughly $53 million. The company’s chairman, Yawar Shah, shared that it had tied overall management goals and incentives to security targets.

While the company has been in the spotlight in the past for not uncovering customer operating practice shortcomings, SWIFT made the decision to roll out additional people in its security teams and new products to help its customers monitor financial transactions. It claimed that its ability to protect the various finances exchanging virtual hands was due to historic customer failure to share information about hacking incidences.