Bangladesh panel finds possible insider role in central bank cyber theft

Commuters pass by the front of the Bangladesh central bank building in Dhaka March 8, 2016. REUTERS/Ashikur Rahman/File Photo

DHAKA: Officials of Bangladesh Bank may have been involved in a brazen theft of US$81mil (RM334.16mil) from its account with the New York Federal Reserve Bank in February, the head of a government-appointed panel investigating the cyber heist told reporters on May 30. 

Hackers broke into the computer systems of the Bangladesh central bank and issued instructions through the SWIFT network to transfer US$951mil (RM3.92bil) of its deposits held at the New York Federal Reserve Bank to accounts in the Philippines and Sri Lanka.