There are enough examples in the world to show that you get what you pay for and you definitely get problems if you compromise on something. Well, we now have a very expensive example to present to you. But before that, many of you who do not know about the incident need a small recap.
Earlier this year, the system of the central bank of Bangladesh was attacked by a team of hackers who tried to steal loads of money from the bank. However, Deutsche Bank noticed that “foundation” was misspelled as “fandation”, thus laying an end to the plans of the criminals. However, the hackers made away with a whopping $80 million before their plan was uncovered.
Well, the reason behind this heist has now come out in the public, and trust me, it really sounds amusing. A Reuters report says that the Forensic Training Institute of the Criminal Investigation Department of Bangladesh conducted an investigation into the heist. And as foolish as it may sound, it was discovered that the bank was actually using $10 network switches, that too second-hand and without a firewall!
The network switches were used to connect the bank’s computers together, and the computers itself were connected to the SWIFT global payment system. This made it easier for the hackers to access the credentials that they used to make high-value transfers into their own bank accounts.
Had the bank bought some new $10 network switches instead of second-hand ones and had used a firewall, the whole incident could have been avoided and $80 million could have been saved from falling into wrong hands. The bank lacked complicated hardware, thus making it more difficult to trace the hacks. Police has already found 20 recipients of the stolen money, but the hackers are still to be found.