BB heist probe

Bangladesh unlikely to extend contract with FireEye

Bangladesh's central bank is unlikely to extend the contract of U.S. cyber security firm FireEye to investigate the electronic theft of $81 million of its money, sources at the bank said on Wednesday, citing high costs as one of the factors: Streetinsider.com reports. The move comes as law enforcement in Bangladesh and the United States have reported little progress in identifying the criminals more than four months after one of the biggest cyber heists to date.
FireEye's Mandiant forensics division was hired by Bangladesh Bank weeks after the cyber heist in early February. It said in an interim report that hackers took control of the bank's network, stole credentials for sending messages on the SWIFT transactions system and used "sophisticated" malicious software to attack the computers the bank uses to process and authorize transactions. Mandiant has said it needs 570 hours of more work to complete its investigations, a director on the board of Bangladesh Bank told Reuters. The bank has already paid about $280,000 to the company at an hourly rate of $400, he and other officials said on condition of anonymity. Another official familiar with the computer security systems at the bank said it did not want to extend Mandiant's contract because board members were not sure what tangible results could come from further investigation.

 

BB heist probe

Bangladesh unlikely to extend contract with FireEye

Bangladeshs central bank is unlikely to extend the contract of U.S. cyber security firm FireEye to investigate the electronic theft of $81 million of its money, sources at the bank said on Wednesday, citing high costs as one of the factors: Streetinsider.com reports. The move comes as law enforcement in Bangladesh and the United States have reported little progress in identifying the criminals more than four months after one of the biggest cyber heists to date. FireEyes Mandiant forensics division was hired by Bangladesh Bank weeks after the cyber heist in early February. It said in an interim report that hackers took control of the banks network, stole credentials for sending messages on the SWIFT transactions system and used sophisticated malicious software to attack the computers the bank uses to process and authorize transactions. Mandiant has said it needs 570 hours of more work to complete its investigations, a director on the board of Bangladesh Bank told Reuters. The bank has already paid about $280,000 to the company at an hourly rate of $400, he and other officials said on condition of anonymity. Another official familiar with the computer security systems at the bank said it did not want to extend Mandiants contract because board members were not sure what tangible results could come from further investigation.