SWIFT says bank hacks set to increase

SWIFT, whose messaging network is used by banks to send payment instructions worth trillions of dollars each day, said three clients were hacked over the summer and cyber attacks on banks are set to increase.

The theft of $81 million in February from Bangladesh's central bank using SWIFT messages rocked faith in the system whose messages had, until then, been accepted at face value.

SWIFT Chief Executive Gottfried Leibbrandt told the Sibos conference in Geneva on Monday that hackers breached the systems of two banks over the summer and a third bank repelled an attack before fraudulent SWIFT messages could be sent.