BSidesLV 2016

Bank heists make great stories. And this year, we got some really good stories to tell courtesy of a little trusted network known as SWIFT, and some banks that believed they were inherently protected by virtue of being connected. 

Except they weren’t. And hundreds of millions of dollars have revealed some ugly truths and dangerous assumptions.

There’s a whole lotta finger pointing going on. We know the golden rule: he who has the gold makes the rules. That would be the banks, and in this case, SWIFT, the trusted messengering system that does not want to be tainted by what’s really going on here. 

So, away from cameras, recording devices and safely out of earshot of my employer and those they serve (ahem), let’s talk about what’s inherently wrong with the banking system that hackers can manipulate and access. Let’s review some recent exploits and see where else they might lead. You can bet attackers are already mapping out those trails. And let’s play a little bit of Attribution Blame Game: which group, which country, which motive. Dibs on North Korea.