Overview
Law360 quoted Jason Weinstein in a May 17 article titled “SWIFT Hack Leaves Little Room for Banks to Feign Ignorance.” The article discusses a malware attack that hit at least two banks that use the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT) platform to exchange secure messages. The editors write that beyond taking basic steps such as strengthening monitoring and access controls, banks can also take more advanced steps to boost their defenses, such as engaging outside information security vendors and instituting a blockchain-based system that is more opened and decentralized.
Mr. Weinstein says, "A blockchain-based system would have made it much more difficult, if not impossible, to pull off the theft without detection." He notes that such a system would have likely blocked hackers both from getting into the SWIFT system to remove records of the transfers and to manipulate account balances to avoid detection, "kind of like how the thieves in 'Ocean's 11' hacked into the security cameras so they showed a vault full of money at the same time the vault was being emptied."
The full article can be read at Law360 (subscription required).
