Expert comments on North Korea link surfaces In SWIFT Banking Attacks

 In the response to the news that evidence is emerging of links tying a spate of Asian bank breaches involving the SWIFT network to North Korea’s malicious hacking Lazarus Group Leo Taddeo, Chief Security Officer at Crytzone commented below.

Leo Taddeo, Chief Security Officer at Crytzone:

Investigators should be cautious in assigning responsibility for the recent attacks on the SWIFT system.  Any adversary that has the resources to develop highly customized malware is sure to know that strings of code are like fingerprints that could reveal their true identity.  The perpetrators of this attack most likely used one or more techniques to cover their tracks, including borrowing malware known to be used by other groups.

“If, in fact, North Korea is behind this attack, it leaves governments and private network defenders with few good options. Changing the behavior of a nuclear-armed hacker state is not one of them.  The only real recourse is to redouble efforts to harden networks against the most dedicated and well-resourced adversaries.  The best first steps are proper segmentation and robust identity and access management.