What is SWIFT?

SWIFT stands for the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication and is a consortium
that operates a trusted and closed computer network for communication between member banks
around the world.

The consortium, which dates back to the 1970s, is based in Belgium and is overseen by the National
Bank of Belgium and a committee composed of representatives from the US Federal Reserve, the Bank
of England, the European Central Bank, the Bank of Japan and other major banks.

The SWIFT platform has some 11,000 users and processes about 25 million communications a day, most
of them money transfer transactions.

Financial institutions and brokerage houses that use SWIFT have codes that identify each institution as
well as credentials that authenticate and verify transactions.

While SWIFT is used to transfer funds, banks themselves are responsible for their individual cyber
security. This is where hackers are exploiting weaknesses in the system. The Bangladesh bank heist was
conducted by exploiting these vulnerabilities to access the SWIFT network, eventually becoming one of
the largest and most successful cyber heists ever (Lennon, 2017).
ACA #1

Developing more secured systems and heighten internal controls and cyber security for the transfer of
funds between banks

Advantages

- Security would be more guarded and difficult to breach

- Makes systems more resilient to cyber threats

Disadvantages

- Costly
- Might take a longer time
- Does not totally eliminate fraud, some may still remain undetected

ACA #2

Monitor as well as train their personnel, in charge of critical and complex transactions, to detect
anomalies and review their background and connections

Advantages

- Employees qualifications would increase

- Work done would be unbiased
- Lower the possibility of inside jobs within the company

Disadvantages

- Does not stop external factors such as hackers

- Would not make systems more resilient to cyber threats

ACA #3

Increase communications between the bank and the Federal Reserve and ensure timely response

Advantages

- Suspicious transactions would be properly addressed

- Immediate action could be taken
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Disadvantages

- Might take a longer time

- Does not totally eliminated fraud and some may still remain undetected