Following the Bangadesh Bank heist in February, on Friday SWIFT announced further attacks by cyber criminals using malware to defraud banks. Now Vietnam's TPBank says it has interrupted an attack.

The cyber attack was directed at a number of banks that SWIFT has not identified. The attack focused on the banks' secondary controls and in the latest case it targets a PDF reader used by the customer to check its statement messages.

Tien Phong Bank foils attempt to steal $1.1m

In the latest twist in this increasingly complex story, Vietnam's Tien Phong Bank has said that it interrupted an attempted cyber heist that involved the use of fraudulent SWIFT messages. TPBank told Reuters yesterday that it received requests in late 2015, via the fraudulent SWIFT messages, to transfer more than 1 million euros ($1.1 million) of funds. The bank identified the requests as fraudulent before any funds were moved.

SWIFT malware troubles continue

All of this follows the Bangladesh Bank heist in February this year, in which $81 million was stolen. Despite SWIFT's attempts to defuse the situation with a joint statement with the New York Fed and Bangladesh Bank, the new information now being reported by Reuters suggests SWIFT's troubles are not over.

In its statement on Friday, SWIFT said: “Forensic experts believe this new discovery evidences that the malware used in the earlier reported customer incident was not a single occurrence, but part of a wider and highly adaptive campaign targeting banks.”

SWIFT says network, messaging systems and software not compromised

It also stated: “In the meantime we would like to reassure you that the SWIFT network, SWIFT messaging systems and software have not been compromised. The security and integrity of our messaging services are not in question as a result of the incidents.”

SWIFT's full statement is on its website.